Cellular Regulation of Inflammatory Diseases

A Special Issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X) belonging to the section "Cellular Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 663

Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Immunology, UConn Health, Farmington, CT, USA
Interests: inflammatory diseases; innate immunity; neutrophils; monocytes; microscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cellular regulation of inflammatory diseases represents an important field in biomedical research that focuses on how immune cells control the initiation, progression, and resolution of inflammation. Inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarctions, and cancers, result from dysregulated immune responses that fail to maintain equilibrium between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signals. Understanding cellular trafficking, interaction, and functional regulatory changes during these diseases will provide insights into the cellular mechanisms behind them and lead to more accurate therapies that adjust immune responses without increasing infection risk. This Special Issue will showcase research elucidating the functions of essential cell types, such as neutrophils, monocytes/macrophages, T cells, B cells, natural killer cells, and dendritic cells, along with signaling pathways and molecular regulators that facilitate acute or chronic inflammation.

Dr. Zhichao Fan
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • inflammatory diseases
  • inflammation
  • neutrophils
  • monocytes/macrophages
  • T cells
  • B cells
  • NK cells
  • dendritic cells

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 3494 KB  
Article
Curcumin Retains Anti-Inflammatory Effects Despite IDO Inhibition-Associated Neutrophilic Shift in OVA-Induced Rat Model
by Mubeen Fatima, Ali Rafi, Muhammad Shoaib Zafar, Usman Aftab, Khush Bakhat Kiran, Muhammad Shahzad, Safdar Hussain and Hongbo Wang
Biomolecules 2026, 16(9), 1295; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom16091295 - 8 Sep 2026
Viewed by 223
Abstract
Allergic asthma is characterized by Th2-driven airway inflammation. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) maintains immune tolerance, but its role in modulating the anti-inflammatory actions of Curcumin (CN) is unclear. This study investigated whether CN retains efficacy in a rat model of Ovalbumin (OVA)-induced airway inflammation [...] Read more.
Allergic asthma is characterized by Th2-driven airway inflammation. Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) maintains immune tolerance, but its role in modulating the anti-inflammatory actions of Curcumin (CN) is unclear. This study investigated whether CN retains efficacy in a rat model of Ovalbumin (OVA)-induced airway inflammation under pharmacological IDO inhibition. Rats were sensitized and challenged with OVA and treated with methylprednisolone (MP, 15 mg/kg), CN (200 mg/kg), the IDO inhibitor 1-MT (70 mg/kg), or CN+1-MT. Assessments included systemic and pulmonary leukocyte profile, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), OVA-specific IgE, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) inflammatory cells and nitric oxide (NO) levels, lung wet/dry weight ratio, gene expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, Cxcr2 and transcription factor Nfkb1 and lung histopathology. CN alone or combined with 1-MT normalized leukocyte counts, suppressed eosinophilic and neutrophilic infiltration, restored BALF NO levels, reduced DTH response and OVA-specific IgE, decreased pulmonary edema, and preserved pulmonary vascular integrity. CN significantly attenuated TNF-α, IL-4, IL-6, and Cxcr2 gene expression despite pharmacological IDO inhibition. Histopathology revealed reduced inflammatory infiltration and maintained alveolar structure. CN maintains anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and tissue-protective efficacy in allergic airway inflammation despite pharmacological IDO inhibition. These findings call for future research on CN as a potential adjunctive therapy method for inflammatory airway diseases. However, to elucidate the underlying processes, more research on IDO activity and downstream immunometabolic pathways is needed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cellular Regulation of Inflammatory Diseases)
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