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Inflammation is at the origin and progression of diseases such as diabetes or cancer

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Fifteen international researchers will discuss new scientific evidence associating chronic inflammation with a long list of diseases.

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 25-27 June 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 Fundación BBVA. The event will be hosted by the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC).

Caelles: "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”.

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.

IRB Barcelona

L’Institut de Recerca Biomèdica (IRB Barcelona) treballa per aconseguir una vida lliure de malalties. Desenvolupa una recerca multidisciplinària d’excel·lència per curar el càncer i altres malalties vinculades a l'envelliment. Treballa establint col·laboracions amb la indústria farmacèutica i els principals hospitals per fer arribar els resultats de la recerca a la societat a través de la transferència de tecnologia, i du a terme diferents iniciatives de divulgació científica per mantenir un diàleg obert amb la ciutadania. L’IRB Barcelona és un centre internacional que acull al voltant de 400 investigadors de més de 30 nacionalitats. Reconegut com a Centre d'Excel·lència Severo Ochoa des de 2011, és un centre CERCA i membre del Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).