To understand noncommunicable diseases, researchers look to inflammation 


Is inflammation a root cause of myriad noncommunicable diseases, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, arthritis, and asthma? A June 2019 Harvard Magazine article surveyed the evidence and profiled several researchers who have studied the role inflammation plays in disease formation.

A number of researchers discussed the challenges of studying the role inflammation plays in immune responses, and how these immune responses factor into the onset of diseases. Among those quoted in the piece was Gökhan Hotamışlıgil, James Stevens Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Director of the Sabri Ülker Center for Nutrient, Genetic and Metabolic Research.

Hotamışlıgil was unequivocal when discussing the role inflammation plays in causing disease. “Chronic inflammation is uniformly damaging and is absolutely causal to the process, because if you interfere with it, you can reverse the pathology,” he said.

Read the Harvard Magazine article: Raw and Red-Hot