Activation of the heat shock response attenuates the interleukin 1β-mediated inhibition of the amiloride-sensitive alveolar epithelial ion transport.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a clinical syndrome characterized by hypoxia, which is caused by the breakdown of the alveolar capillary barrier. Interleukin 1β (IL-1β), a cytokine released within the airspace in ALI, downregulates the α subunit of the epithelial sodium channel (αENaC) transcription and protein expression via p38 MAP kinase-dependent signaling. Although induction of the heat shock response can restore alveolar fluid clearance compromised by IL-1β following the onset of severe hemorrhagic shock in rats, the mechanisms are not fully understood.

PAI-1 is an essential component of the pulmonary host response during Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia in mice.

Rationale: Elevated plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) levels are associated with adverse clinical outcome in patients with pneumonia caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, whether PAI-1 plays a pathogenic role in the breakdown of the alveolar-capillary barrier caused by P aeruginosa is unknown.

Objectives: The role of PAI-1 in pulmonary host defence and survival during P aeruginosa pneumonia in mice was tested.

Cytoprotective-selective activated protein C attenuates Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced lung injury in mice.

Inhibition of the small GTPase RhoA attenuates the development of pulmonary edema and restores positive alveolar fluid clearance in a murine model of Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia. Activated protein C (aPC) blocks the development of an unfavorably low ratio of small GTPase Rac1/RhoA activity in lung endothelium through endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR)/protease-activated receptor-1 (PAR-1)-dependent signaling mechanisms that include transactivating the sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) pathway. However, whether aPC's cytoprotective effects can attenuate the development of pulmonary edema and death associated with P.

Critical role of the small GTPase RhoA in the development of pulmonary edema induced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in mice.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause severe pneumonia in critically ill patients. We have reported previously that P. aeruginosa exotoxins S and T mediate in vitro the increase in protein permeability across lung endothelial cell monolayers via a RhoA-dependent mechanism.

Activation of the stress protein response inhibits the STAT1 signalling pathway and iNOS function in alveolar macrophages: role of Hsp90 and Hsp70.

Background And Aim: Alveolar fluid clearance is impaired by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS)/nitric oxide (NO)-dependent mechanisms in acute lung injury (ALI)/acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The activation of the stress protein response (SPR) in alveolar macrophages on iNOS-dependent NO production in response to interferon gamma (IFNgamma), a major cytokine present in the airspace of patients with ALI, was investigated.

Methods: The SPR was activated in murine and primary human alveolar macrophages prior to analysis of signal transducer and activator of transcription factor 1 (STAT1) activation, iNOS mRNA and protein synthesis, and NO production.

Transforming growth factor beta1 inhibits cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator-dependent cAMP-stimulated alveolar epithelial fluid transport via a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent mechanism.

Exogenous or endogenous beta(2)-adrenergic receptor agonists enhance alveolar epithelial fluid transport via a cAMP-dependent mechanism that protects the lungs from alveolar flooding in acute lung injury. However, impaired alveolar fluid clearance is present in most of the patients with acute lung injury and is associated with increased mortality, although the mechanisms responsible for this inhibition of the alveolar epithelial fluid transport are not completely understood. Here, we found that transforming growth factor beta1 (TGF-beta1), a critical mediator of acute lung injury, inhibits beta(2)-adrenergic receptor agonist-stimulated vectorial fluid and Cl(-) transport across primary rat and human alveolar epithelial type II cell monolayers.

Early release of high mobility group box nuclear protein 1 after severe trauma in humans: role of injury severity and tissue hypoperfusion.

Introduction: High mobility group box nuclear protein 1 (HMGB1) is a DNA nuclear binding protein that has recently been shown to be an early trigger of sterile inflammation in animal models of trauma-hemorrhage via the activation of the Toll-like-receptor 4 (TLR4) and the receptor for the advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE). However, whether HMGB1 is released early after trauma hemorrhage in humans and is associated with the development of an inflammatory response and coagulopathy is not known and therefore constitutes the aim of the present study.

Methods: One hundred sixty eight patients were studied as part of a prospective cohort study of severe trauma patients admitted to a single Level 1 Trauma center.

Serotonin decreases alveolar epithelial fluid transport via a direct inhibition of the epithelial sodium channel.

Hypoxia and epithelial stretch that are commonly observed in patients with acute lung injury have been shown to promote the release of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) in vitro. However, whether 5-HT contributes to the decrease of alveolar epithelial fluid transport, which is a hallmark of lung injury, is unknown. Thus, we investigated the effect of 5-HT on ion and fluid transport across the alveolar epithelium.

Role of small GTPases and alphavbeta5 integrin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced increase in lung endothelial permeability.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen that can cause severe pneumonia associated with airspace flooding with protein-rich edema in critically ill patients. The type III secretion system is a major virulence factor and contributes to dissemination of P. aeruginosa.

Interleukin-1beta causes acute lung injury via alphavbeta5 and alphavbeta6 integrin-dependent mechanisms.

Interleukin (IL)-1beta has previously been shown to be among the most biologically active cytokines in the lungs of patients with acute lung injury (ALI). Furthermore, there is experimental evidence that lung vascular permeability increases after short-term exposure to IL-1 protein, although the exact mechanism is unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the mechanisms of IL-1beta-mediated increase in lung vascular permeability and pulmonary edema following transient overexpression of this cytokine in the lungs by adenoviral gene transfer.

Sensitization of mesothelioma cells to tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand-induced apoptosis by heat stress via the inhibition of the 3-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase 1/Akt pathway.

Heat stress may enhance the effect of apoptosis-inducing agents in resistant tumor cells. One such agent is the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), which has attracted intense interest for its ability to induce apoptosis in tumors without affecting nonmalignant cells. We therefore tested whether heat stress potentiates TRAIL-induced apoptosis in mesothelioma cells, its cell type being resistant to TRAIL alone.

Extracellular heat shock protein 72 is a marker of the stress protein response in acute lung injury.

Previous studies have shown that heat shock protein 72 (Hsp72) is found in the extracellular space (eHsp72) and that eHsp72 has potent immunomodulatory effects. However, whether eHsp72 is present in the distal air spaces and whether eHsp72 could modulate removal of alveolar edema is unknown. The first objective was to determine whether Hsp72 is released within air spaces and whether Hsp72 levels in pulmonary edema fluid would correlate with the capacity of the alveolar epithelium to remove alveolar edema fluid in patients with ALI/ARDS.

Serum levels of Hsp60 correlate with the development of acute lung injury after trauma.

Background: Previous studies have shown that heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60) is a danger signal for the immune system and appears to be a key endogenous inflammatory mediator that activates the toll-like receptors and causes the release of proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide by immune competent cells, but no data are available for trauma patients. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Hsp60 could be detected in the serum of patients early after severe trauma and whether its serum level might correlate with the development of acute lung injury (ALI) in trauma patients.

Methods: Clinical data were collected prospectively during a 12-month period for trauma patients who were ventilated mechanically for more than 24 h and who met the following inclusion criteria: Injury Severity Score > or =16, age >18 years.

Transforming growth factor-beta1 decreases expression of the epithelial sodium channel alphaENaC and alveolar epithelial vectorial sodium and fluid transport via an ERK1/2-dependent mechanism.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is characterized by the flooding of the alveolar airspaces with protein-rich edema fluid and diffuse alveolar damage. We have previously reported that transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1) is a critical mediator of ALI after intratracheal administration of bleomycin or Escherichia coli endotoxin, at least in part due to effects on lung endothelial and alveolar epithelial permeability. In the present study, we hypothesized that TGF-beta1 would also decrease vectorial ion and water transport across the distal lung epithelium.

Mammalian osmolytes and S-nitrosoglutathione promote Delta F508 cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) protein maturation and function.

In cystic fibrosis, the absence of functional CFTR results in thick mucous secretions in the lung and intestines, as well as pancreatic deficiency. Although expressed at high levels in the kidney, mutations in CFTR result in little or no apparent kidney dysfunction. In an effort to understand this phenomenon, we analyzed Delta F508 CFTR maturation and function in kidney cells under conditions that are common to the kidney, namely osmotic stress.