Cytokine-Mediated Degradation of the Transcription Factor ERG Impacts the Pulmonary Vascular Response to Systemic Inflammatory Challenge

This study found that a gene called ERG plays a unique and critical role in ensuring proper function of the blood vessels of the lung. This finding highlights a potential mechanism for how inflammatory diseases disrupt blood vessels in the lung, and this could yield new therapeutic targets for combating lung-damaging diseases such as  acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).  First author Christopher M. Schafer, PhD received the Catalyst Award for  work on inflammatory diseases.