inflammation tagged posts

Highlights •MYSM1 inhibits PRR pathways for pro-inflammatory and type I IFN gene induction •MYSM1 transiently accumulates in the cytoplasm upon microbial challenge •MYSM1 interacts with and inactivates TRAF3 and TRAF6 via its SWIRM and MPN domains •MYSM1 protects against sepsis but renders mice more susceptible to viral infection

Our immune system is vital to us and can sometimes overreact causing chronic illnesses, such as for instance rheumatism and allergy. Now, researchers have identified a molecular switch – MYSM1 – that can suppress such an overreaction and avoid inflammation.

“The discovery of MYSM1 is a major milestone in our understanding of how our immune system works, and how its response could be controlled in order to prevent inflammatory diseases such as sepsis,” ...

Confocal fluorosence microscopy: human aortic smooth muscle cells infected with P. gingivalis

A team has shown a periodontal pathogen causes changes in gene expression that boost inflammation and atherosclerosis in aortic smooth muscle cells. The circumstantial evidence that led to this study was ample. The periodontal pathogen, Porphyromonas gingivalis, has also been found in coronary artery plaques of heart attack patients. And in 2 species of animal models, P. gingivalis has been shown to cause and accelerate formation of coronary and aortic atherosclerosis.

They began by culturing human aortic smooth muscle cells, and infecting them with P. gingivalis. They found that gingipains, virulence factors produced by P...

New research shows the presence of saturated fats resulted in monocytes, a white blood cell, migrating into the tissues of vital organs. Received wisdom on the health risks of eating saturated fat has been called into question recently. This new research supports the view that excessive consumption of saturated fat can be bad for us.

Scientists from Imperial College London studied mice that have an unusually high level of saturated fat circulating in their blood. The newly arrived monocytes could worsen tissue damage because they may exacerbate ongoing or underlying inflammation, but this aspect is still under study.
“The mice we studied were treated with a drug that caused them to accumulate extremely high levels of fat in their blood...