TIMER objectives

The project will involve discovery of new natural or synthetic "pro-resolving" molecules from plant and animals and investigation on endogenous inflammation "pro-resolving" mechanisms, including atypical chemokine receptors, decoy receptors, and microRNA. Efforts will be mainly focused on the regulation by "pro-resolving" agents on two molecular systems of key relevance in inflammation: the chemokine system, which regulates recruitment, permanence and egress of leukocyte in tissues; and the Toll Like Receptor (TLR)/IL-1R system, which is central for the activation of infiltrating leukocytes.

Here we argue that "pushing for" inflammation resolution by exploiting active naturally-occurring pro-resolving processes may have significant advantages over the attempt to simply "push back" inflammation by passive blockade of proinflammatory mediators.