IL6 and acute respiratory distress syndrome: In this study we showed for the first time that epithelial production and secretion of IL-6 and MCP-1, two important cytokines in the development of Acute Lung Injury (ALI) and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)[30,31], can occur independently of F-actin and α-tubulin cytoskeletal rearrangements.