Recently, the team led by Academician Zhang Haibo and Professor Li Yimin of intensive care medicine of the SKLRD and Clinical Medical Research Center cooperated closely with the team led by Guan Xiangdong of Sun Yat-sen University and the team led by Yu Kaijiang of Harbin Medical University. They have made an important progress in the key roles and molecular mechanisms of human neutrophil peptides (HNPs) in acute respiratory distress syndromes such as ARDS. Their research finding was published online by Critical Care Medicine, the top journal of intensive care medicine in September with the title of Distinctive Roles and Mechanisms of Human Neutrophil Peptides in Experimental Sepsis and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome”. Another research finding was published in the professional journal of respiratory disease--Respiratory Research in September with the title of “Dual effects of human neutrophil peptides in a mouse model of pneumonia and ventilator-induced lung injury”.

The two researches indicate the cell receptor that blocks the inflammatory injury of HNP can inhibit the inflammatory reaction rather than affect its role in killing microbes. The inhibiting HNP receptor can prevent, ease and cure the inflammatory reaction and organ injury caused by white cells and retaining the role of defensin in killing microbes, with an important prospect of clinical treatment and transformation. An application for a patent has been submitted at home for its relevant research fruits.