inflammation tagged posts

New Injectable Cell Therapy could Resolve Osteoarthritis

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) scientists have created a promising injectable cell therapy to treat osteoarthritis that both reduces inflammation and also regenerates articular cartilage. Recently identified by the Food and Drug Administration as a public health crisis, osteoarthritis affects more than 520 million people worldwide who deal with pain and inflammation. Osteoarthritis is typically induced by mechanical or traumatic stress in the joint, leading to damaged cartilage that cannot be repaired naturally.Read More

Telomeres, Mitochondria, and Inflammation oh my! Three hallmarks of Aging Work Together to Prevent Cancer

Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from damage. This image shows telomeres (green) and DNA (blue) during DNA repair activities.
Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from damage. This image shows telomeres (green) and DNA (blue) during DNA repair activities.

As we age, the end caps of our chromosomes, called telomeres, gradually shorten. Now, Salk scientists have discovered that when telomeres become very short, they communicate with mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses. This communication triggers a complex set of signaling pathways and initiates an inflammatory response that destroys cells that could otherwise become cancerous.

The findings, published in Nature on February 8, 2023, could lead to new ways of preventing and treating cancer as well as designing better interventions to offset the harmful consequences of aging.

The discovery is the result of a collaboration between co-senior authors ...

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Powerful Enzyme that Tamps Down Inflammation Holds Promise for Protecting the Eyes in Diabetes, Premature Birth

Drs. Ruth and William Caldwell

An enzyme under study to treat certain cancers is also showing promise in reducing the significant vision damage that can result from diabetes and premature birth, scientists report.

Inflammation is considered a hallmark of cancer. It’s pervasive as well in both of these potentially blinding eye conditions, in which inadequate oxygen to the eyes prompts growth of new blood vessels to better deliver oxygen, but which instead often obstruct the vision pathway and become leaky, which causes swelling, further hindering vision.

Scientists at the Medical College of Georgia report in newly published studies in the journals Cell Death and Disease and Cells, increasing evidence that making more of the enzyme arginase 1, or A1, available helps alleviate these...

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How Sugar Promotes Inflammation

Expression of GLUT3 on activated T cells. GLUT3 (green) is localised on the cell surface, the mitochondria (violet) and the nucleus (blue) were also shown. Photo: AG Väth (Image: AG Väth)

People who consume sugar and other carbohydrates in excess over a long period of time have an increased risk of developing an autoimmune disease. In affected patients, the immune system attacks the body’s own tissue and the consequences are, for example, chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, type 1 diabetes and chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland.

New targets for therapy

The underlying molecular mechanisms that promote autoimmune diseases are multilayered and complex...

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