Download Inflammation and Chronic Disease

DEPARTAMENTO DE COMUNICACIÓN
PRESS NOTE
Inflammation is at the origin and progression
of diseases such as diabetes or cancer

IRB Barcelona and BBVA Foundation have invited fifteen international
researchers to discuss new scientific evidence associating chronic
inflammation with a long list of diseases. Cancer and diabetes are the
latest additions to this list
June 20, 2007.- What is the role of inflammation in cancer? Which molecular
and cell mechanisms promote inflammation? How do antiinflammatory agents
work and which molecules do we need to target for antiinflammatories to be more
effective? These are essential questions for scientists studying the mechanisms
that activate and control innate immune response. Fifteen top international
specialists in this field will gather from June 25-27 for a conference entitled,
“Inflammation and Chronic Disease”, part of the “Barcelona BioMed” conference
series organised by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and
the BBVA Foundation. The event will be hosted by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans
(IEC).
INFLAMMATION AND CHRONIC DISEASE
Inflammation is the innate response of the immune system that occurs when an
organism sustains a lesion or infection. When the damaged tissue heals, the
inflammation disappears, but when the inflammation remains active and becomes
chronic, it can severely damage the affected tissue.
Asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, multiple
sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and, most recently, type 2 diabetes and cancer, are
diseases that have been associated with chronic inflammation. Carme Caelles,
researcher at IRB Barcelona and co-organiser of the conference, explains that
“until recently inflammation has been considered simply a side effect of cancer. In
the last three years, however, growing evidence has pointed to the active role of
inflammation not just at the beginning but also in the promotion and progression
of the disease”.
Inflammation is also linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes. The presence of
excessive fat activates the production of cytokines, proteins involved in
inflammatory processes that end up promoting insulin resistance. There are
currently several drugs in clinical testing that inhibit cytokines as a treatment for
diabetes. “Not all anti-inflammatory drugs work for all diseases. The challenge is
to identify and understand complete mechanisms so that the most effective drugs
can be designed for each disease, with the fewest side effects possible”, points out
Caelles.
The conference will host a full range of specialists and will cover a variety of areas.
Speakers will present their research into the basic mechanisms that activate
inflammation, as well as the results from other studies directly associated with the
disease. Michael Karin, co-organiser of the event and researcher at the University
of California San Diego (USA), for example, published with his team a conclusive
study linking inflammation, infection and cancer in Nature earlier this year.
Another internationally renowned scientist is Gabriel Nuñez, from the University of
Michigan Medical School (USA), whose laboratory has been studying the
“autoinflammatory syndrome”. Jorge Moscat, from Genome Research Institute
(USA), is a leading expert in signal transduction processes during the
inflammatory response. Antonio Celada, an immunologist at IRB Barcelona, will
present the latest results of his team on macrophages, cells that play a key role in
the body’s immune response.
For further information, contact the BBVA Foundation Press Office (+34 91 537 6615 /+34
94 487 4627) or the IRB Barcelona Press Office (Sònia Armengou. T: +34 93 403 72 55,
[email protected])
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