Background : Binding of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) to the KGF receptor (KGFR) plays an important role in the recovery of alveolar epithelial cells from acute lung injury (ALI). Objectives : To evaluate the effect of gene therapy via adenovirus gene transfer of KGFR on the treatment of ALI. Methods : Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into four groups: normal controls, injury controls, normal adenovirus transduced group and injury adenovirus transduced group. The ALI model was induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection. Recombinant adenovirus (AdEasy-KGFR) was injected via the tail vein. Expression of the sodium (Na⁺) channel in rat alveolar type II (ATII) epithelial cells was determined by PCR, immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy of rat lung tissues. Results : Gene expression of the Na⁺ channel and KGFR in ATII cells was higher in the normal adenovirus transduced group than the three other groups; expression of these two genes in the injury adenovirus transduced group was higher than the injury control group. Na⁺ channel protein expression was lower in the injury adenovirus transduced group but higher than the injury control group. Conclusions : KGFR over-expression induced Na channel expression could potentially be beneficial for ALI therapy.

Keywords : Keratinocyte growth factor-receptor (KGFR); sodium (Na⁺) channel; rat model；acute lung injury (ALI); gene therapy