TNF and acute respiratory distress syndrome: Treatment with EP (100 mg/kg, i.p., immediately before intratracheal LPS instillation) significantly inhibited the release of HMGB1, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β into the BAL fluids of ALI mice (Table 1), indicating that EP prevented LPS-induced ALI by attenuating the release of early (TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β) and late (HMGB1) systemic pro-inflammatory cytokines associated with lethality.