Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators have identified a key molecular player in the early events of the inflammatory response to infection. The findings suggest new therapeutic possibilities for enhancing the inflammatory response to protect against pathogens and for blocking inflammation gone awry in diseases like arthritis and atherosclerosis.

Excess dietary salt activates immune cells to induce inflammation and hypertension, supporting current recommendations for low sodium consumption.

An inflammatory factor in mucus could be a biomarker of treatment-resistant chronic sinusitis used to determine which patients are at risk for repeat sinus surgery.

Vanderbilt researchers have identified and characterized inhibitors of an enzyme that synthesizes lipid signaling molecules with roles in energy balance, inflammation and addiction.

Vanderbilt immunologists have discovered that the protein Nur77 is part of a control mechanism that guards against autoimmunity in natural killer T cells.

Sean Davies and colleagues are exploring lipid aldehydes produced during oxidative stress and their contribution to HDL dysfunction and atherosclerosis.

A drug that targets multiple pathogenic steps in diabetic retinopathy may be an ideal therapeutic strategy for the disease, Vanderbilt researchers report.