pro-inflammatory tagged posts

Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have made an important breakthrough in understanding how inflammation is regulated. They have just discovered that a key immune alarm protein previously believed to calm down the immune response actually does the opposite.

Their work has numerous potential impacts, especially in the context of understanding and responding to autoimmune disorders and inflammation.

While our immune system serves a very important function protecting us from infection and injury, when immune responses become too aggressive this can lead to damaging inflammation, which occurs in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis...

Periostin (shown in pink) is being used in the clinic as a marker for allergic diseases such as asthma as well as atopic dermatitis. Left image: Periostin is overexpressed in atopic dermatitis. Right image: Blocking LIGHT also blocks periostin expression.

Finding provides a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of severe eczema, a chronic inflammatory skin condition that is driven by an allergic reaction. In their latest study, researchers at La Jolla Institute reveal an important player that promotes skin inflammation in atopic dermatitis and the characteristic thickening of the skin...

Neurons say relax: This three-dimensional view of part of a mouse intestine shows the neurons that surround tissue-protective immune cells. These neurons release norepinephrine, which instructs the immune cells to activate an anti-inflammatory response.

The immune system must protect against potential infections, but over-vigilant reactions can cause problems. New research shows neurons in the intestine send signals to immune cells to curb inflammation. This could have Rx implications for gastrointestinal diseases such as IBS.

Lamina propria macrophages are found very close to the lining of the intestinal tube, while muscularis macrophages are in a deeper tissue layer, more distant from what passes through the intestine...