Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Staphylococcus (S.) aureus has emerged as an important cause of necrotizing pneumonia. Lung injury during S. aureus pneumonia may be enhanced by local release of damage associated molecular patterns such as high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1). In the current study we sought to determine the functional role of HMGB1 and its receptors, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), in the injurious host response to S. aureus pneumonia. ⋯ These data suggest that HMGB1 and RAGE, but not TLR4, contribute to lung injury accompanying the early phase of S. aureus pneumonia.