The Journal of clinical investigation
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The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) provokes three pathologic processes: unchecked inflammation, interstitial/alveolar protein accumulation, and destruction of pulmonary epithelial cells. The highly conserved heat shock protein HSP-70 can limit all three responses but is not appropriately expressed in the lungs after cecal ligation and double puncture (2CLP), a clinically relevant model of ARDS. We hypothesize that restoring expression of HSP-70 using adenovirus-mediated gene therapy will limit pulmonary pathology following 2CLP. ⋯ Administration of AdHSP significantly attenuated interstitial and alveolar edema and protein exudation and dramatically decreased neutrophil accumulation, relative to a control adenovirus. CLP-associated mortality at 48 hours was reduced by half. Modulation of HSP-70 production reduces pathologic changes and may improve outcome in experimental ARDS.