91直播

A presentation by Dr. Maya Saleh (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, 91直播).

What is an inflammatory response? How is it triggered and terminated? Is inflammation a friend or a foe? We have all experienced the signs of inflammation in the form of redness, swelling and heat around a blister or fever when infected with a bacteria or a virus. Indeed, inflammation is our innate immune response to 鈥渄anger鈥�, be it an invading pathogen, a skin cut, or the presence of transformed or dying cells. The physiological role of inflammation is to defend our body and restore normalcy or homeostasis. However, when inflammation is deregulated, it is at the basis of inflammatory diseases and is the fuel of cancer growth.

In the last decade, the master 鈥渟witches鈥� of inflammation or the sensors of 鈥渄anger鈥� referred to as pathogen/danger recognition receptors have been identified. This discovery has changed dramatically the way we perceive the role of inflammation in health and disease, leading in many cases to direct therapeutic applications.

In this lecture, I will discuss what we have recently learned on the role of our innate immune response in inflammatory diseases and cancer, with a focus on intestinal pathologies, including inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and colorectal cancer. I will address the conundrum of how we co-exist with a whopping number of bacteria in our gut without eliciting an inflammatory reaction, whether the bacteria in our intestinal flora are 鈥済ood鈥� or 鈥渂ad鈥�, and whether we could modify our diet to change the composition of these bacteria for good health. I will also review the current therapies of IBD and colitis-associated cancer and discuss the potential need to revisit them.

Free, everyone welcome. Seating is limited. No reservations necessary.聽The conference is聽followed by a reception.