Abstract: Objective The purposes of the present study were to assess ①the effect of signal transducer and activator of transcription （STAT） on pulmonary injury induced by cecal ligation puncture (CLP) in septic rats; ②the significance of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 expression in pulmonary injury mediated by STAT in septic rats. Methods Sepsis of rats was induced by CLP. 56 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control (n=8), CLP group (n=24), and inhibitor (rapamycin, RPM) of STAT pretreatment group (n=24). At serial time points in each group, animals were sacrificed. Then, pulmonary tissue and serum samples were harvested to determine IL-6 and IL-10 mRNA expression levels by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and protein expression levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Meanwhile, pulmonary STAT1 DNA-binding activity was detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) as well as histopathology were also evaluated. Results Compared to normal control, pulmonary STAT1 activity at 6h, 24h and 48h following CLP significantly elevated (P<0.01). In the meantime, pulmonary MPO, histopathologic scoring as well as IL-6 and IL-10 mRNA and protein expression levels in lung or serum markedly increased respectively. Following pretreatment with RPM, pulmonary STAT1 activity, MPO and histopathologic scoring decreased compared to CLP group, IL-10 expression significantly elevated, IL-6 levels without alteration at the same time. Conclusion These data suggest that severe intra-abdoment infection elevates pulmonary STAT1 activity and induces injury of remote lung, and inhibiting the activation of STAT1 attenuates pulmonary tissue damage, however contributions from STAT1 driven expression of IL-10 as well as IL-6 may be needed in a balanced fashion to maximize the animals' ability to survive septic challenge.