Upregulation of hypoxia-induced mitogenic factor in bacterial lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury

Hypoxia-induced mitogenic factor (HIMF), also known as FIZZ1 (found in inflammatory zone), plays important roles in lung inflammation. We found that intraperitoneal injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced intensive HIMF production exclusively in mouse lung, but not: in the heart, liver, spleen or kidney. This HIMF production, at least partly, contributes to LPS-induced vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) upregulation and mononuclear cell sequestration to lung parenchyma, while protecting alveolar type 11 cells from LPS-resulted decrease in surfactant protein-C production and cell death. These data indicate that HIMF participates in LPS-induced acute lung injury and inflammation through modulating VCAM-1 and SP-C expression. (c) 2006 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.