Figure 7.

The inflammatory response through the HIF-1α signaling pathway. The inflammatory cytokine IL-6 and other inflammatory signals bind with the receptors expressed on the immune cells (monocytes, etc.) to activate the downstream signals. In our study, the proteins HIF-1α and STAT3 were activated to induce inflammatory response in the early phase of sepsis. While, in the late phase of sepsis, the immune checkpoint protein PD-L1 expressed on the monocyte membrane was upregulated to generate immunosuppression.