[Correlations between molecular biology of sepsis and of other primordial stressors]

The molecular response to endotoxins includes the molecular responses to light, oxygen and heat which may be regarded as parts of a single ancestral stress. Laboratory data suggest that a) light stress provokes molecular responses that are also caused by oxidative stress and endotoxins; b) heat stress activates heat shock proteins, as do oxidative stress and endotoxins; the former protect against oxidative stress, heat stress and endotoxins; c) oxidative stress activates antioxidant enzymes like endotoxin; these protect against endotoxins; d) endotoxin-related stress activates the molecular responses to all the aforesaid primordial stresses. Many laboratory findings prompt us to conclude that the molecular response to endotoxemia and sepsis is an archetypal response common to all forms of primordial stress.