Since the appearance of the concept of endogenous danger signals, several candidate alarmins have been proposed [18].
In the context of sepsis, free circulating DNA is regarded as an endogenous danger signal or 'danger-associated molecular pattern' (DAMP).
By far, mitochondrial DAMPs are to date the best candidate endogenous danger signals; they respond to all alarmin criteria [18, 41].
It is the purpose of this review to discuss recent findings in the field of the pathogenesis of SIRS and the relevance of novel candidate endogenous danger signals.
The discovery of potent endogenous danger signals released from injured/necrotic cells clearly adds to our understanding of the pathogenesis of "sterile inflammation," as well as SIRS when tissue injury is sufficient to produce systemic inflammation.
Discussion The mechanism of organ failures in this setting is questionable, but is presumably linked to a massive release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and endogenous danger signals by malignant cells.
This also argues against a role for nucleosomes (which can become harmful to the host when released in excessive amounts [25],[26]) as significant endogenous danger signals in melioidosis.
HMGB1, a so-called endogenous danger signaling molecule, is actively released by activated monocytes and macrophages and is a key late mediator of the inflammatory response to sepsis [43-45] [43-45]evels corresponding to the onset of mortality [43,46].
