Inflammation

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The below may be of interest:

Inflammation

Ursula Weiss1

Nature 454, 427 (24 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/454427a; Published

online 23 July 2008

Inflammation is the body's immediate response to damage to its

tissues and cells by pathogens, noxious stimuli such as chemicals, or

physical injury. Acute inflammation is a short-term response that

usually results in healing: leukocytes infiltrate the damaged region,

removing the stimulus and repairing the tissue. Chronic inflammation,

by contrast, is a prolonged, dysregulated and maladaptive response

that involves active inflammation, tissue destruction and attempts at

tissue repair. Such persistent inflammation is associated with many

chronic human conditions and diseases, including allergy,

atherosclerosis, cancer, arthritis and autoimmune diseases.

The processes by which acute inflammation is initiated and develops

are well defined, but much less is known about the causes of chronic

inflammation and the associated molecular and cellular pathways. This

Insight highlights recent advances in our knowledge of the exogenous

and endogenous inducers of chronic inflammation, as well as the

inflammatory mediators and cells that are involved. We hope that

these articles will contribute to a better understanding of

inflammatory responses, and ultimately result in the design of more

effective therapies for the numerous debilitating diseases with a

chronic inflammatory component.

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Nature 454, 428-435 (24 July 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07201;

Published online 23 July 2008

Origin and physiological roles of inflammation

Ruslan Medzhitov1

Top of pageAbstractInflammation underlies a wide variety of

physiological and pathological processes. Although the pathological

aspects of many types of inflammation are well appreciated, their

physiological functions are mostly unknown. The classic instigators

of inflammation — infection and tissue injury — are at one end of a

large range of adverse conditions that induce inflammation, and they

trigger the recruitment of leukocytes and plasma proteins to the

affected tissue site. Tissue stress or malfunction similarly induces

an adaptive response, which is referred to here as para-inflammation.

This response relies mainly on tissue-resident macrophages and is

intermediate between the basal homeostatic state and a classic

inflammatory response. Para-inflammation is probably responsible for

the chronic inflammatory conditions that are associated with modern

human diseases.

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Carruthers

Wakefield, UK