Inflammation is one of the most ancient and effective ways with which the human organism reacts to a variety of external and internal stimuli and, according to the most recent evolutionary theories, sends alarm signals in the shape of symptoms. Modern immunology keeps discovering, almost every month, new inflammatory cytokines with different functions: they are able to induce inflammation, but also to change metabolism, control stiffness, modulate immune system, reduce or increase insulin resistance (modulating diabetes and obesity), interfere with mood, change hormonal balance and have many other effects on the organism. Most cytokines work as a messaging network: like a biological communication protocol, they allow every organism to receive information from inside and outside and to learn about the environment in order to adapt in the most efficient way. However, over the past 50 years, medical professionals have been using almost only ESR and CRP as indicators of inflammation.
Everyone has experience of inflammation: it is something all human beings and animals share. So much so that anti-inflammatory drugs (that some people identify as analgesics, anti-fever or painkillers), are the N.1 selling drugs all over the world and many are common household references.
The study of inflammation can therefore be of extreme relevance across a wide variety of fields of knowledge and activities, not strictly limited to the medical sector, but extending to food sciences, sports, general well-being, ageing and almost everything that has to do with the human organism and its functioning.
The mission of the Inflammation Society starts from researching and understanding the role of the already existing as well as the newly discovered citokines or molecules involved in inflammation and related process as they express a common basis for a majority of chronic diseases. The Society will support further research in inflammation and the development of a better knowledge in understanding its causes and discovering appropriate solutions, raising public awareness about the condition and training professionals and practitioners from various fields on the state of the art of control and prevention techniques.
Cytokines and inflammation are a sort of language and they can be used as instruments. Every cytokine is a message and it is possible to give other messages to the body with new drugs, different nutritional habits, new functional foods and new vegetal components, already on the horizon, only waiting to be discovered. The Society will promote the understanding of the language of cytokines, in order to develop a more complete clinical approach to diseases, new devices for self-measurement and for clinical assessment and innovative supplements & drugs for a new interaction with the environment.
The cooperation amongst scientists and thinkers from different fields will allow the Society to look beyond the normal boundaries of different specialisations, in the effort to be ready to catch innovations as they present themselves, and transforming them in useful clinical practice.