The Importance of Inflammation in Medicine

Maria Benito

IPN Communications, Dublin, Ireland

Dr. Maria Benito, IPN Communications, Dublin, Ireland.

Keywords: Inflammation; Resolution; Inflammatory Process; Dysregulation; Neutrophiles; Macrophages

Abstract

Inflammation is a constant companion in mostly all pathologies known. Traditionally, there were some diseases considered inflammatory such as inflammatory arthropaties or respiratory diseases. Today however, we know that almost all pathologies involve inflammation -dysregulation of inflammatory mechanisms- at some stage. Although inflammation is a beneficial process designed to eradicate threats to the organism, a dysregulation of the magnitude or duration of inflammation contributes to multiple pathologies [1]. Thus, chronic inflammation is considered to be the cause of most chronic diseases and presents a major threat to the health and longevity of individuals, being the major contributor to several diseases including cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), allergic asthma, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer [2-4]. The prevalence of these diseases has increased rapidly over the past decades [5], which challenges the question of why diseases of such different etiology are associated with chronic inflammation.

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