Projects

One, two, three inflammation is gone?

The process of the inflammatory reaction. Malfunctions at one of the three Checkpoints (A, B, C) can prevent the inflammation from resolving, so that the inflammatory reaction persists and a chronic disease develops; ©Uniklinik Erlangen

Inflammations are usually temporary. Their task is to eliminate or at least limit non-infectious or infectious danger signals before the balance of the immune system is restored. However, inflammatory process becomes independent, it leads to the development of chronic inflammatory diseases. This usually affects the large inner and outer surfaces of the body, such as the joints, the intestines, the lungs and the skin. We assume that a precisely coordinated interaction of molecular mechanisms is responsible for the resolution of inflammation and the regulation of the immune system. Three checkpoints are decisive for this:

A) Cytokines and innate immune mechanisms

B) the adaptive immunity at the interface between chronification and resolution and

C) changes in resident tissue

In order to achive a better understanding of the development of chronic inflammatory diseases and to characterise the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control the resolution of inflammation, the scientific projects of the CRC1181 are divided between these three checkpoints.