Lung infections represent a tremendous disease burden and a leading cause of acute lung injury. STAT3 signaling is essential for controlling lung injury during pneumonia. We previously identified LIF as a prominent STAT3-activating cytokine expressed in the airspaces of pneumonic lungs, but its physiological significance in this setting has never been explored. To do so, Escherichia coli was in...

INTRODUCTION In acute lung injury, repair of the damaged alveolar-capillary barrier is an essential part of recovery. Endostatin is a 20 to 28 kDa proteolytic fragment of the basement membrane collagen XVIII, which has been shown to inhibit angiogenesis via action on endothelial cells. We hypothesised that endostatin may have a role in inhibiting lung repair in patients with lung injury. The ai...

BACKGROUND Acute lung injury occurs in approximately 25% to 30% of subjects undergoing oesophagectomy. Experimental studies suggest that treatment with vitamin D may prevent the development of acute lung injury by decreasing inflammatory cytokine release, enhancing lung epithelial repair and protecting alveolar capillary barrier function. METHODS/DESIGN The 'Vitamin D to prevent lung injury f...

Pathogen reduction technology (PRT) has been developed in an effort to make the blood supply safer, but there is controversy as to whether it may induce structural or functional changes to platelets that could lead to acute lung injury after transfusion. In this study, we used a commercial PRT system to treat human platelets that were then transfused into immunodeficient mice, and the developme...

Current Opinion in Critical Care 2008, 14:11–15 Purpose of review The mechanisms of epithelial injury in acute lung injury/acute respiratory distress syndrome have been of interest since the syndrome was first described. Cell therapies to replace injured epithelium are a futuristic dream; however, there is ongoing research to achieve this goal. We review research regarding the function of the e...

Mechanical ventilation can worsen morbidity and mortality by causing ventilator-associated lung injury, especially where adverse ventilatory strategies are employed. Adverse strategies commonly involve hyperventilation, which frequently results in hypocapnia. Although hypocapnia is associated with significant lung alterations (e.g., bronchospasm, airway edema), the effects on alveolar-capillary...

Combined acute renal and pulmonary failure has a very high mortality. In animals, lung injury develops after shock, or visceral or renal ischemia. -Melanocyte stimulating hormone ( MSH) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine which inhibits inflammatory, apoptotic, and cytotoxic pathways implicated in acute renal injury. We sought to determine if -MSH inhibits acute lung injury following renal ischemi...

Since oleic acid (OA) induces morphologic and cellular changes similar to those observed in human acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), it has become a widely used model to investigate the effects of several agents on pathogenesis of lung injury. The antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antiapoptotic properties of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) have been documented in ma...

Combined acute renal and pulmonary failure has a very high mortality. In animals, lung injury develops after shock or visceral or renal ischemia. Alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) is an antiinflammatory cytokine, which inhibits inflammatory, apoptotic, and cytotoxic pathways implicated in acute renal injury. We sought to determine if alpha-MSH inhibits acute lung injury after ren...

• Neutrophil-platelet aggregates are dynamically formed in the lung in response to injury and are regulated by aspirin-triggered lipoxin. • The therapeutic effect of aspirin in acute lung injury is in large part mediated by the production of pro-resolving lipid mediators. Evidence is emerging that platelets aremajor contributors to innate immune responses in conditions such as acute lung injury...