Patients with ALI consistently fall into the so-called hyper-inflammatory sub-phenotype, which is characterized by high plasma levels of inflammatory biomarkers such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) (He et al., 2021; Li et al., 2023). Here, TNF is linked to acute respiratory distress syndrome.