Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury following lung transplantation remains a major source of early morbidity and mortality. Histologically, this inflammatory process is characterized by neutrophil infiltration and activation. We previously reported that lung IR injury was significantly attenuated in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1-deficient mice. In this study, we explored the potential role of ...

NF-κB activation is a critical signaling event in the inflammatory response and has been implicated in a number of pathological lung diseases. To enable the assessment of NF-κB activity in the lungs, we transfected a luciferase based NF-κB reporter into the lungs of mice or into Raw264.7 cells in culture. The transfected mice showed specific luciferase expression in the pulmonary tissues. Using...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) caused by severe sepsis remains a major challenge in intensive care medicine. ACE2 has been shown to protect against lung injury. However, the mechanisms of its protective effects on ARDS are largely unknown. Here, we report that ACE2 prevents LPS-induced ARDS by inhibiting MAPKs and NF-κB signaling pathway. Lentiviral packaged Ace2 cDNA or Ace2 shRNA ...

Acute lung injury is a life-threatening inflammatory response caused by severe infection. Toll-like receptors in alveolar macrophages (AMΦ) recognize the molecular constituents of pathogens and activate the host's innate immune responses. Numerous studies have documented the importance of TLR-TLR cross talk, but few studies have specifically addressed the relationship between TLR4 and TLR3. We ...

Calcium is an important second messenger and it is widely recognized that acute lung injury (ALI) is often caused by oscillations of cytosolic free Ca2+. Previous studies have indicated that the activation of transient receptor potential‑vanilloid (TRPV) channels and subsequent Ca2+ entry initiates an acute calcium‑dependent permeability increase during ALI. However, whether seawater exposure i...

BACKGROUND Farrerol, isolated from rhododendron, has been shown to have the anti-bacterial activity, but no details on the anti-inflammatory activity. We further evaluated the effects of this compound in two experimental models of lung diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS For the asthma model, female BALB/c mice were challenged with ovalbumin (OVA), and then treated daily with farrerol (2...

Long pentraxin 3 (PTX3), an acute-phase protein, is a newly clarified mediator for innate immunity and inflammation. As a soluble pattern recognition receptor, it has a nonredundant role in antifungal infection. Overexpression of PTX3 worsens acute lung injury. The lung epithelium is a critical factor in defense against pulmonary pathogens; it is also involved in acute inflammatory responses re...

BACKGROUND Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe form of lung injury that frequently occurs during pneumonia and sepsis. Lung inflammation in ARDS patients may have deleterious effects on remote organs such as the kidney. The nuclear enzyme poly(adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase (PARP) enhances the nuclear factor (NF)-κB-dependent transcription of inflammatory cytokines....

Hyperoxic lung injury is pathologically characterized by alveolar edema, interlobular septal edema, hyaline membrane disease, lung inflammation, and alveolar hemorrhage. Although the precise mechanism by which hyperoxia causes lung injury is not well defined, oxidative stress, epithelial cell death, and proinflammatory cytokines are thought to be involved. Probucol-a commercially available drug...

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has been reported to be involved in the signaling of the inflammatory response; however, there are differing views as to whether it is pro- or anti-inflammatory. In this study, we sought to determine whether endogenously synthesized H2S via cystathionine-γ-lyase (CSE) plays a pro- or anti-inflammatory role in caerulein-induced pancreatitis. To investigate this, we used mi...