Human diseases Inflammation

There is now little doubt that ROMs are produced in excess in patients with aaive IBD. That, at least in experimental colitis, they are rather more than irrelevant epiphenomena is indicated by the anti-inflammatory effect of specific antioxidants. Proof that this is also the case in human disease awaits the outcome of further controlled trials of specific agents interfering with ROM production. Whilst induction of NO production has been shown to occur in association with inflammation and tissue damage in both humans and in animal models, the significance of this is as yet unclear. 

Growing evidence suggests that PMTs play critical roles in the development of various human diseases including cancer [24,30], inflammation [31], and drug addiction [32]. For example ... 

Thus, the role of cytokines in inflammation, immune-cell function and tissue repair is varied and complex. Later sections of this book explore the cytokines generated by neutrophils during inflammatory challenge ( 7.3.4), the regulation of neutrophil function by cytokines ( 7.2.1) and human diseases associated with neutrophil dysfunction in which cytokines may play important roles ( 8.2.5, 8.8). 

Complement is involved not only in attacking foreign cells but in inflammation. Unfortunately, this is sometimes accompanied by serious problems. Human diseases in which complement is thought to be involved include glomerulonephritis, rheumatoid arthritis, myasthenia gravis, and lupus erythematosus. 

Although now essentially obsolete for the treatment of human diseases because of their toxicities, organoarsenic compounds were the first synthetic organic pharmaceutical agents and were widely used in the early 1900s. The first pharmaceutical application was that of atoxyl (the sodium salt of 4-aminophenylarsinic acid), which was used to treat sleeping sickness. The synthesis of Salvarsan by Dr. Paul Ehrlich in 1907 was a development that may be considered the beginning of modem chemotherapy (chemical treatment of disease). Salvarsan was widely used for the treatment of syphilis. Toxic effects of Salvarsan included jaundice and encephalitis (brain inflammation). 

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) serves as a central regulator of the human immune and inflammatory response, and is a family of inducible transcription factors found virtually ubiquitously in all cells and functions in a variety of human diseases including those related to inflammation, cancer, asthma, atherosclerosis, AIDS, septic shock, and arthritis. Due to its role in a wide variety of diseases, NF-kB has become one of the major targets for drug development. Inhibition of NF-kB activity potentially contributes to cancer chemoprevention [27,28]. 

In this chapter the topic of inflammation in Parkinson s disease (PD) and in models of human disease will be reviewed. To set the stage, the biological, clinical and pathological hallmarks of PD and related degenerative conditions will be presented. A more comprehensive review of PD can be found in the following tw o references (Fahn and Przedborski, 2005 Dauer and Przedborski, 2003). 

Abstract Inflammation induces oxidative stress, lipid and protein oxidation and modifies redox equilibrium. At the whole body level, inflammation and oxidative stress contribute to the pathogenesis of many human diseases including atherosclerosis, and related cardiovascular diseases, leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western countries. 

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