Pulmonary Epithelial TLR4 Activation Leads to Lung Injury in Neonatal Necrotizing Enterocolitis.

ABSTRACT: We seek to define the mechanisms leading to the development of lung disease in the setting of neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening gastrointestinal disease of premature infants characterized by the sudden onset of intestinal necrosis. NEC development in mice requires activation of the LPS receptor TLR4 on the intestinal epithelium, through its effects on modulating epithelial injury and repair. Although NEC-associated lung injury is more severe than the lung injury that occurs in premature infants without NEC, the mechanisms leading to its development remain unknown. In this study, we now show that TLR4 expression in the lung gradually increases during postnatal development, and that mice and humans with NEC-associated lung inflammation express higher levels of pulm

SUBMITTER: Jia H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4955761 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature