These results suggest that miR-608 is an important posttranscriptional regulator of ELANE expression in human monocytes and may play an important role in the process of inflammation. miR-608 and neutrophil elastase may be novel targets for the diagnosis or treatment of sepsis.
Also, whereas NE-deficient mice had impaired survival in response to E. coli sepsis, as compared to wild-type mice, the presence or absence of NE had no influence on survival in response to sepsis that had been induced with OmpA-deficient E. coli.