You are here

Inflammation

Innate immune responses trigger inflammation to help the body fight potentially harmful pathogens and to facilitate wound repair.

Typically inflammation is defined by pain, heat, redness, and/or swelling of the area of the body where the inflammatory response is activated.  In an acute inflammation the innate immune response induces the influx of plasma, white blood cells, and blood into the wounded area to initiate healing. These processes also enhance tissue resistance to infection by activating antimicrobial defenses of innate immunity. Chronic inflammation, which occurs in conditions such as arthritis, is a prolonged inflammatory response that can cause destruction of the tissue that underlies many autoimmune diseases. 

The Center for Innate Immunity and Immune Disease (CIIID) is actively investigating how innate immune responses trigger and control inflammation. This research has the potential to impact a broad range of medical therapeutics ranging from wound healing, burn recovery, organ transplant, arthritis, and overall immune regulation. Developing new ways to control how and when the inflammation is induced brings CIIID investigators the potential to design novel classes of anti-inflammatory drugs.