A paper in the journal Nature published evidence that during systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), blood plasma was found to have large amounts of mitochondrial DNA (1000 times more than in normal plasma).
The study suggests from the data that when there is damage to many cells, they will release "mitochondrial debris" and the body will respond to these debris as if it were a foreign pathogen. The study tested the neutrophil response to increased mitochondrial debris in the plasma and found a similar response to the debris as one would see toward foreign invaders . If you choose to read, the study further tests the idea that these mitochondrial debris elicit an immune response by the neutrophils.
The thing that is very cool is to remember that mitochondria are thought to have derived from symbiotic bacteria, and they retain some of their characteristics (including having their own DNA). So it seems when they get out of damaged cells they are recognized at PAMPs by the innate immune system. It's a lovely early-warning system for tissue damage.
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