• Julie A Bastarache, Sara C Sebag, Jennifer K Clune, Brandon S Grove, William E Lawson, David R Janz, L Jackson Roberts, Ryszard Dworski, Nigel Mackman, and Lorraine B Ware.
• Division of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-2650, USA. julie.bastarache@vanderbilt.edu
• Thorax. 2012 Dec 1;67(12):1032-9.

BackgroundSystemic blockade of tissue factor (TF) attenuates acute lung injury (ALI) in animal models of sepsis but the effects of global TF deficiency are unknown. We used mice with complete knockout of mouse TF and low levels (∼1%) of human TF (LTF mice) to test the hypothesis that global TF deficiency attenuates lung inflammation in direct lung injury.MethodsLTF mice were treated with 10 μg of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or vehicle administered by direct intratracheal injection and studied at 24 h.ResultsContrary to our hypothesis, LTF mice had increased lung inflammation and injury as measured by bronchoalveolar lavage cell count (3.4×10(5) wild-type (WT) LPS vs 3.3×10(5) LTF LPS, p=0.947) and protein (493 μg/ml WT LPS vs 1014 μg/ml LTF LPS, p=0.006), proinflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-10, IL-12, p<0.035 WT LPS vs LTF LPS) and histology compared with WT mice. LTF mice also had increased haemorrhage and free haemoglobin in the airspace accompanied by increased oxidant stress as measured by lipid peroxidation products (F(2) isoprostanes and isofurans).ConclusionsThese findings indicate that global TF deficiency does not confer protection in a direct lung injury model. Rather, TF deficiency causes increased intra-alveolar haemorrhage following LPS leading to increased lipid peroxidation. Strategies to globally inhibit TF may be deleterious in patients with ALI.

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