Title:Getting an Insight into the Complexity of Major Chronic Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases: A Potential New Systemic Approach to Their Treatment
Volume: 16
Issue: 9
Author(s): Pier M. Biava and Guido Norbiato
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Chronic inflammation, cytokines, glucocorticoids, glucocorticoid receptor, nuclear steroid receptor, neuroendocrine-
lmmune-metabolic systems, epigenetic markers, cancer, brain, cardiovascular, obesity, HIV infection diseases, mesenchymal
stem cells, stem cells differentiation stage factors.
Abstract: As the modern society is troubled by multi-factorial diseases, research has been conducted
on complex realities including chronic inflammation, cancer, obesity, HIV infection, metabolic syndrome
and its detrimental cardiovascular complications as well as depression and other brain disorders.
Deterioration of crucial homeostatic mechanisms in such diseases invariably results in activation of inflammatory
mediators, chronic inflammation, loss in immunological function, increased susceptibility
to diseases, alteration of metabolism, decrease of energy production and neuro-cognitive decline.
Regulation of genes expression by epigenetic code is the dominant mechanism for the transduction of
environmental inputs, such as stress and inflammation to lasting physiological changes. Acute and chronic stress determines
DNA methylation and histone modifications in brain regions which may contribute to neuro-degenerative disorders.
Nuclear glucocorticoids receptor interacts with the epigenoma resulting in a cortisol resistance status associated with a deterioration
of the metabolic and immune functions. Gonadal steroids receptors have a similar capacity to produce epigenomic
reorganization of chromatine structure. Epigenomic-induced reduction in immune cells telomeres length has been
observed in many degenerative diseases, including all types of cancer. The final result of these epigenetic alterations is a
serious damage to the neuro-endocrine-immune-metabolic adaptive systems. In this study, we propose a treatment with
stem cells differentiation stage factors taken from zebrafish embryos which are able to regulate the genes expression of
normal and pathological stem cells in a different specific way.
