A wide range of experiments including reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction, western blot, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay, flow cytometry, hematoxylin–eosin staining, RNA immunoprecipitation, luciferase activity and caspase-3 activity detection assays were conducted to figure out the expression status, specific role and potential upstream mechanism of TLR4 in ALI. The gene discussed is TLR4; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.