Immunometabolism: Molecular Mechanisms, Diseases, and Therapies

Several studies published over the last two decades have provided a good body of evidences supporting a central role of chronic low-grade inflammation as a major factor driving many of the metabolic complications commonly found in highly prevalent chronic diseases such as obesity, insulin resistance, and cancer. It was well established in these studies, for example, that activation of canonical inflammatory pathways is one of the major factors promoting the impairment in insulin signaling seen in obesity and type 2 diabetes, being responsible for the reduced glucose uptake and exacerbated lipolysis found in this condition. Such important role of inflammation in chronic diseases has motivated several studies aiming at understanding the mechanisms underlying its development and searching for efficient therapeutic strategies to minimize its metabolic consequences. In the present special issue, we gathered several original and review articles addressing potential nutritional, pharmacological, and behavioral strategies that could be used to counteract inflammatory process associated with a variety of diseases including obesity, periodontal disease, myocardial infarction, and pneumonia, among others. In a very interesting study, for example, E. G. Novoselova et al. experimentally tested individually or in combination several inhibitors of NFkB pathway and naturally occurring antioxidants as anti-inflammatory agents in vivo bringing new information about their therapeutic efficacy. In the same direction, M. S. Elburki et al. tested the appropriateness of using a novel chemically modified curcumin, a matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor with no antibiotic properties, as a therapeutic molecule for the treatment of periodontal disease with promising results towards the attenuation of alveolar bone loss.