Mechanical ventilation enhances extrapulmonary sepsis-induced lung injury: role of WISP1–αvβ5 integrin pathway in TLR4-mediated inflammation and injury

BACKGROUND: High tidal volume ventilation of healthy lungs or exacerbation of existing acute lung injury (ALI) by more moderate mechanical ventilation (MTV) produces ventilator-induced lung injury. It is less clear whether extrapulmonary sepsis sensitizes the lung to MTV. METHODS: We used a two-hit model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) followed 12 h later by MTV (10 ml/kg; 6 h) to determine whether otherwise noninjurious MTV enhances CLP-induced ALI by contrasting wildtype and TLR4(−/−) mice with respect to: alveolar-capillary permeability, histopathology and intrapulmonary levels of WNT-inducible secreted protein 1 (WISP1) and integrin β5; plasma levels of cytokines and chemokines (TNF-α, IL-6, MIP-2, MCP-1) and intrapulmonary neutrophil infiltration; and other inflammatory signaling via intrapulmonary activation of JNK, p38 and ERK. A separate cohort of mice was pretreated with intratracheal neutralizing antibodies to WISP1, integrin β5 or IgG as control and the presented phenotyping repeated in a two-hit model; there were 10 mice per group in these first three experiments. Also, isolated peritoneal macrophages (PM) from wildtype and TLR4(−/−), MyD88(−/−) and TRIF(−/−) mice were used to identify a WISP1–TLR4–integrin β5 pathway; and the requisite role of integrin β5 in WISP1-induced cytokine and chemokine production in LPS-primed PM was examined by siRNA treatment. RESULTS: MTV, that in itself did not cause ALI, exacerbated increases in alveolar-capillary permeability, histopathologic scoring and indices of pulmonary inflammation in mice that previously underwent CLP; the effects of this two-hit model were abrogated in TLR4(−/−) mice. Attendant with these findings was a significant increase in intrapulmonary WISP1 and integrin β5 in the two-hit model. Anti-WISP1 or anti-integrin β5 antibodies partially inhibited the two-hit phenotype. In PM, activation of TLR4 led to an increase in integrin β5 expression that was MyD88 and NF-κB dependent. Recombinant WISP1 increased LPS-induced cytokine release in PM that was inhibited by silencing either TLR4 or integrin β5. CONCLUSIONS: These data show for the first time that otherwise noninjurious mechanical ventilation can exacerbate ALI due to extrapulmonary sepsis underscoring a potential interactive contribution of common events (sepsis and mechanical ventilation) in critical care, and that a WISP1–TLR4–integrin β5 pathway contributes to this phenomenon. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13054-018-2237-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.