Genetic determinants and ethnic disparities in sepsis-associated acute lung injury.

ABSTRACT: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a common and devastating illness that occurs in the context of sepsis and other systemic inflammatory disorders. In systemic illnesses like sepsis, only a subset of patients develops ALI even when pathologic stimuli are apparently equivalent, suggesting that there are genetic features that may influence its onset. Considerable obstacles in defining the exact nature of the pathogenesis of ALI include substantial phenotypic variance, incomplete penetrance, complex gene-environment interactions and a strong potential for locus heterogeneity. Moreover, ALI arises in a critically ill population with diverse precipitating factors and appropriate controls that best match the reference population have not been agreed upon. The sporadic nature of ALI precludes conventiona

SUBMITTER: Barnes KC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2713318 | biostudies-literature | 2005

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature