Accumulation and activation of inflammatory cells in the lung characterize the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). However, the precise mechanism for lung epithelial and endothelial cell damage remains unknown. Based on evidence that rapid apoptosis caused by CD8(+) cytolytic T cells can induce pathological cell death, we hypothesized that this mechanism may also participate in the acute lung injury, and attempted to evaluate apoptosis-related factors in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from ARDS patients. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis revealed that the messenger ribonucleic acids (mRNAs) for several apoptosis molecules, such as perforin, granzyme A, granzyme B, FasL, and Fas were highly upregulated in the acute phase of ARDS following sepsis. In contrast, low or negligible mRNA expression of these molecules was detected in patients with normal lung function, in septic patients without lung injury (septic non-ARDS), and in patients in the late phase of septic ARDS (late ARDS). While the genes of the classic proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-6, and IL-8, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were upregulated in septic non-ARDS or late ARDS patients, expressions of these genes in the acute phase of septic ARDS were most distinct. The immunofluorescence flow cytometry showed that only the lymphocyte population in BALF from acute phase of septic ARDS patients expressed perforin and granzyme. The level of soluble FasL in the BALF increased only in the acute ARDS patients. These results thus suggested that the dual apoptosis pathway, perforin/granzyme and FasL/Fas system, is likely to be another participant for the pathogenesis of acute lung injury.