From the western blotting results (Fig. 1E–I), we know that the protein levels of Mcl-1 in patients with ARDS espicially the moderate-severe ARDS were higher than those in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (Fig. 1H, Mcl-1; ARDS vs Healthy: p = 0.0394, moderate–severe vs healthy: p = 0.015). The gene discussed is MCL1; the disease is acute respiratory distress syndrome.