Cutting edge: HMG-1 as a mediator of acute lung inflammation

Acute inflammatory lung injury is often a delayed complication of critical illness and is associated with increased mortality, High mobility group-1 (HMG-1) protein, in addition to its role as a transcriptional regulatory factor, has recently been identified as a late mediator of endotoxin lethality. In the present studies, HMG-I given intratracheally produced acute inflammatory Injury to the lungs, with neutrophil accumulation, the development of lung edema, and increased pulmonary production of IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, and macrophage-inflammatory protein-2, In endotoxin-induced acute lung inflammation, administration of anti-HMG-l Abs either before or after endotoxin exposure decreased the migration of neutrophils to the lungs as well as lung edema. These protective effects of anti-HMG-1 were specific, because pulmonary levels of IL-1 beta, TNF-alpha, or macrophage-inflammatory protein-2 were not decreased after therapy with anti-HMG-l, Together, these findings indicate that HMG-1 is a distal mediator of acute inflammatory lung injury.