Chronic Inflammation
Prolonged inflammatory activity lasting weeks to years that can damage tissues and contribute to diseases including atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune conditions. Managing chronic inflammation is relevant to several peptide therapeutic areas.
Technical Context
Chronic inflammation is characterised by: simultaneous tissue destruction and repair (ongoing damage alongside healing attempts), mononuclear cell infiltration (macrophages, lymphocytes, plasma cells rather than the neutrophils of acute inflammation), fibrosis (excessive collagen deposition as repair fails to keep pace with damage), and angiogenesis (new blood vessel formation in inflamed tissue). Conditions driven by chronic inflammation: atherosclerosis (vascular inflammation → plaque formation → cardiovascular events), type 2 diabetes (adipose tissue inflammation → insulin resistance), neurodegenerative diseases (neuroinflammation → neuronal damage), autoimmune diseases (persistent immune attack on self tissues), and cancer (inflammatory microenvironment promoting tumour growth). Biomarkers of chronic inflammation: CRP, ESR, ferritin, fibrinogen, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α). Several peptide drugs address chronic inflammation: corticotropin (stimulating anti-inflammatory cortisol production), cyclosporine (suppressing T cell-mediated inflammation), and GLP-1 RAs (which may have anti-inflammatory effects through reduced visceral fat and direct GLP-1R signalling on immune cells).