Inflammation is a natural process which results from your body's immune defense against pathogens such as bacterial and viruses. Symptoms can include swelling, joint pain, and redness. Sometimes the body’s defense system (immune system) inappropriately triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign substances to fight off. In these diseases, called autoimmune diseases, the body’s normally protective immune system causes damage to its own tissues. The body responds as if normal tissues are infected or somehow abnormal.

Inflammatory diseases refer to diseases that are caused or contributed to by a complicated set of functional and cellular adjustments involving acute or chronic changes in microcirculation, movement of fluids, and influx and activation of inflammatory cells (e.g., leukocytes) and complement, and included autoimmune diseases. Examples include reperfusion injury, ishemia injury, strock, transplant rejection, hepatitis, thyroiditis periodontal disease, arthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis and sepsis.

Inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) (neuroinflammation) is now recognized to be a feature of all neurological disorders. In multiple sclerosis, there is prominent infiltration of various leukocyte subsets into the CNS. Even when there is no significant inflammatory infiltrates, such as in Parkinson or Alzheimer disease, there is intense activation of microglia with resultant elevation of many inflammatory mediators within the CNS.

Meningitis: inflammation of the membranes covering the brain upon bacterial and viral infection. Most prominent in the cae of bacterial meningitis, clinical symptoms include a horrible headache, fever, malaise and pain when moving the neck.

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS): is a major component of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS). ARDS is a syndrome of acute pulmonary inflammation and resultant increased capillary endothelial permeability. ARDS of different aetiologies is characterized by local inflammatory response. The inflammatory mediators also spill over into the general circulation.

Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS): Several infective and non-infective causes of SIRS are recognized. Infective causes of SIRS include sepsis and spetic chock, infection caused bybacterial pathogens, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Non-infective causes of SIRS include haemorrhagic shock, acute pancreatitis, and burns. Systemic leukocyte activation (cytokine-mediated) is a direct consequence of SIRS and if excessive, can lead to MODS and multiple organ failure. As a consequence of overactive SIRS response, leukocytes become activated within the general circulation and some then lodge within the pulmonary microcirculation. As the condition develops, leukocytes migrate into the pulmonary interstitium and increased endothelia permeability leads to tissue oedema. The leukocytes in the lungs both respond and contribute to the infalmmatory process in ARDS.

Inflammatory bowel disease: refers to active ulcerative colitis (UC) and active Crohn's disease (CD). Treatment agents include azathioprine/6-mercaptopurine, methotrexate, tacrolimus, and cyclosporine A (CsA) as well as infliximab, a chimeric monoclonal antibody targeting tumor necrosis factor alpha.