AGER and acute respiratory distress syndrome: Studies indicated that RAGE ligands are present in the pulmonary compartment during MV: (1) Long-term MV in patients without acute lung injury increased HMGB1 levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) [18], (2) 4 h of injurious MV in rabbits induced a fivefold increase of HMGB1 levels in BALF and blocking HMGB1 attenuated VILI [19], and (3) S100A12 and S100A8/A9, members of the S100 family of proteins, are found in BALF of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) [20,21].