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Interrupting the inflammatory cycle in chronic diseases—Do gap junctions provide the answer?
Author(s) -
Green Colin R.,
Nicholson Louise F.B.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
cell biology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.932
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1095-8355
pISSN - 1065-6995
DOI - 10.1016/j.cellbi.2008.09.006
Subject(s) - disease , stimulus (psychology) , inflammation , genetic predisposition , immune system , immunology , inflammatory response , chronic disease , medicine , neuroscience , bioinformatics , biology , psychology , pathology , intensive care medicine , cognitive psychology
A number of chronic diseases, including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, are associated with genetic susceptibility. Some may originate on exposure to an environmental stimulus. Regardless of genetic predisposition or external stimulus, these chronic diseases, once triggered, share an inflammatory component making them effectively persistent “wounds”. There is also increasing evidence that the presence of one disease can cause activation of another apparently unrelated disease, leading to multiple disorders via activation of an immune response that ‘fast forwards’ disease progression. Here we review common aspects of a number of chronic disease conditions, and put forward the proposal that gap junction modulation may provide an opportunity to break the inflammatory cycle that sustains and links these disorders.