ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses mediators and leukocytic cell recruitment important
in the acute pulmonary inflammatory response and related acute lung
injury. The pathophysiology of acute lung injury and the acute respiratory
distress syndrome (ARDS) has been described in the preceding chapter. Discussion here provides further details on mechanisms and events involved
in acute pulmonary inflammation and injury, including the importance of
specific cytokine mediators, cell receptors, and transcription factors in
the initiation and regulation of innate host defense. The activities of early
response cytokines, particularly the interleukin-1 (IL-1) and tumor necrosis
factor (TNF) families, are detailed and discussed for their roles in acute
pulmonary inflammation. Extensive coverage is devoted to chemotactic
cytokines (chemokines) that modulate and regulate inflammatory cell recruitment during innate host defense (C, CC, CXC, and CXXXC
families). Significant emphasis is placed on the roles and importance of
the CXC and CC families of chemokines and their receptors in mediating
leukocytic cell recruitment during acute pulmonary inflammation and
injury. The importance of these chemokines in subacute and chronic
inflammation and lung injury is also discussed. Subsequent chapters
(Chapters 5 and 6) give further details on etiologies, mechanisms,
and mediators involved in chronic lung injury and chronic respiratory
disease.
