High mobility group box 1 protein as a late-acting 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 box 1 (HMGB1) protein, in addition to its role as a transcriptional regulator factor, has been identified as a late mediator of endotoxin lethality and might be also involved in the development and progression of acute lung injury. HMGB1 protein itself can cause an acute inflammatory response manifested by increased production of proinflammatory cytokines and neutrophil accumulation. The delayed kinetics of HMGB1 protein release indicate that this protein is a distal mediator of acute inflamatory lung injury. Anti-HMGB1 protein antibodies attenuated endotoxin-induced lung injury, but not the early release of TNF-alpha and IL-1beta, indicating that HMGB1 protein is a late mediator of endotoxin-induced acute lung injury. HMGB1 protein is not released by apoptotic cells but is passively released by necrotic or damaged somatic and immune cells and it functions as a major stimulus of necrosis-induced inflammation. HMGB1 protein is also released by activated monocytes/macrophages and induces delayed and biphasic release of proinflammatory mediators from these cells. HMGB1 protein failed to stimulate cytokines release in lymphocytes, indicating that cellular stimulation is specific. We would like to suggest that HMGB1 protein may be also a primary mediator of the inflammatory responses to lung cells injury caused by toxic environmental chemicals.