Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) is an inflammatory protein involved in pathogen recognition.
Drugs called TNF-inhibitors (etanercept, adalimumab, infliximab), which block an inflammatory protein, have been shown to improve the symptoms of ankylosing spondylitis.
New medications that block an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF) are becoming the treatment of choice for psoriatic arthritis.
TNF blockers help to reduce pain and joint damage by blocking an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor (TNF).
Various other chemokines and inflammatory proteins are also believed to be associated with the common symptoms of hPIV infection.
But recent early research suggests the culprit may be the overproduction of two inflammatory proteins, resulting in abnormally high levels of a third, which may lead to rosacea's symptoms.
Certainly endotoxin can influence the entire web of interlocking inflammatory proteins, called cytokines, and their more recently identified molecular cousins, the defensins and the collectins.
Perhaps endotoxin was provoking a regular vigorous workout of the developing immune system, teaching the inflammatory proteins how to behave, thereby promoting smooth immune maturation.
The problem, the authors said, is that people who live with high childhood infection levels carry elevated circulating levels of inflammatory proteins throughout their lives.
Just a few years ago, scientific dogma held that the brain lacked active genes to make inflammatory proteins.