Molecular medicine
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Insulin has been recently shown to decrease mortality and prevent the incidence of multi-organ failure in critically ill patients. The molecular mechanisms by which insulin improves survival have not been defined. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of insulin therapy on the systemic inflammatory response. In vivo we determined the effect of insulin therapy on the inflammatory cascade, which was induced by thermal injury. ⋯ Our data provide insight that insulin attenuates the inflammatory response by decreasing the pro- inflammatory and increasing the anti-inflammatory cas-cade, thereby restoring systemic homeostasis, which has been shown critical for organ function and survival in critically ill patients.