In a clinical study, Tan-re-qing injection was reported to have therapeutic effects on acute lung injury (ALI), reducing the levels of the serum inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8, delaying the progress of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), slowing down the progress of SIRS and reducing the degree of respiratory distress (Yang et al., 2010). Here, IL6 is linked to systemic inflammatory response syndrome.