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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2007 Feb 2.
Published in final edited form as: Free Radic Biol Med. 2006 Sep 29;42(1):1–14. doi: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2006.08.028

Figure 1. Potential roles of heat shock proteins (HSP) in acute lung injury.

Figure 1

The expression of heat shock proteins in both alveolar macrophages and airway and alveolar epithelial cells is upregulated in response to a myriad of cell stressors, including LPS, free radicals, thermal stress, and hypoxia. Increased expression of heat shock proteins results in a cytoprotective response in these cell types. Release of heat shock proteins (by an as yet unidentified mechanism) may serve as a “danger signal” to activate the inflammatory response in surrounding cells.