The AUCs of the ROC curves of the three genes in the training set were all greater than 0.7 (Fig. 4f), in which the diagnostic value of Ncf2 and the combination model was confirmed in both of GSE165226 (Ncf2:AUC = 1, all:AUC = 1) and GSE168796 (Ncf2:AUC = 0.944, all:AUC = 0.972) datasets (Fig. 4g–h), indicating that the potential of these three genes as the diagnostic genes for sepsis-induced ALI. Here, NCF2 is linked to acute respiratory distress syndrome.