TPO and systemic inflammatory response syndrome: The aim of this study was to define the contribution of TPO in enhancing platelet-leukocyte adhesion associated with systemic inflammation and sepsis, and to explore the potential therapeutic effect of TPO blockade in inhibiting the development of organ damage in an acute endotoxemia model, which mimics a systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and in the CLP model, which is an abdominal infection model that leads to polymicrobial sepsis.