For this purpose, in septic patients with and without ARDS, we measured serum levels of BMs identifiers of diverse pathophysiological changes during the progression of the disease: receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and surfactant protein (SP)-D as indicative of alveolar epithelium damage; angiopoietin (Ang)-2 and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 as markers of vascular endothelium damage; interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) as mediators in the inflammatory response; and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) as indicative of fibrinolysis. The gene discussed is AGER; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.