Artham S, Verma A, Newsome AS, et al. - Researchers analyzed plasma/serum samples from acute lung injury (ALI) patients, vs those obtained from healthy controls, for the enzymatic activity of stromelysin1 (matrix metalloprotease-3). Increased stromelysin1 gene expression was shown to be correlated with ALI incidence in several animal models, in gene expression omnibus database analysis. ALI plasma/serum, vs healthy controls, demonstrated a significant, 3-fold rise in stromelysin1 activity, with no difference in stromelysin1 activity between the serum and plasma samples. Findings revealed no significant variation in stromelysin1 activity between non-smoking and smoking individuals. This work affords fundamental knowledge on the potential reliability of stromelysin1 activity analysis, integrated with other biomarkers in development, in blood samples for the early identification of ALI.