Masahiro Naito, Osamu Taguchi, Tetsu Kobayashi, Takehiro Takagi, Corina N D'Alessandro-Gabazza, Yuki Matsushima, Daniel Boveda-Ruiz, Paloma Gil-Bernabe, Takahiro Matsumoto, Ayshwarya-Lakshmi Chelakkot-Govindalayathil, Masaaki Toda, Atsushi Yasukawa, Osamu Hataji, John Morser, Yoshiyuki Takei, Esteban C Gabazza
Acute lung injury (ALI) is a devastating disease with an overall mortality rate of 30 to 40%. The coagulation/fibrinolysis system is implicated in the pathogenesis of ALI. Thrombin-activatable fibronolysis inhibitor (TAFI) is an important component of the fibrinolysis system. Recent studies have shown that the active form of TAFI can also regulate inflammatory responses by its ability to inhibit complement C3a, C5a, and osteopontin. We hypothesized that TAFI might have a protective role in ALI. To demonstrate this hypothesis, the development of ALI was compared between wild-type (WT) and TAFI-deficient mice...
October 2013: American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology