Researchers believe they have found a new target for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) to treat the life-threatening disease. 

ARDS is a sometimes fatal condition where the lungs cannot take in enough oxygen for the body to use due to fluids built up in the air sacs, or alveoli. It usually occurs as a complication with another respiratory condition.

There is no cure for ARDS, but standard treatment is supportive care. In most cases the patient is put on a ventilator and given high doses of oxygen to keep the damaged lungs under pressure, according to Medical News Today. 

A team of researchers recently discovered a molecular mechanism that tightens the bonds between the cells lining the lung's blood vessels so closely that no fluid can leak into the lungs, reported Medical News Today. The researchers believe this mechanism may offer a possible target to finally treating ARDS. 

The researchers tested their hypothesis on mice and used Fg4497, a small molecule, to successfully trigger a cell-tightening mechanism that stops fluid leaking into the lungs. The mice treated with the Fg4497 molecule had higher rates of survival and less fluid build-up than untreated mice. 

The researchers hope their findings from the mice tests will help lead to drugs that help human patients with ARDS by switching back on the body's natural response to low blood oxygen. 

"These drugs could be given to high-risk patients and hopefully prevent the formation of ARDS by activating the internal protective barrier tightening mechanism," Jalees Rehman, associate professor of medicine and pharmacology in the School of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told Medical News Today.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.