The scaffold function of IRAK4 plays a pivotal role not only in TLR4-mediated ALI, but also in TLR7/8-mediated psoriasis (Cushing et al., 2017; Zheng et al., 2024) and TLR7/9-mediated SARS-CoV-2 infection (Lamphier et al., 2014; Yao et al., 2020). Here, IRAK4 is linked to acute respiratory distress syndrome.