University of Southampton, Southampton SO16 6YD, UK.
Br J Nutr. 2013 Jan;109 Suppl 1:S1-34. doi: 10.1017/S0007114512005119.
To monitor inflammation in a meaningful way, the markers used must be valid: they must reflect the inflammatory process under study and they must be predictive of future health status. In 2009, the Nutrition and Immunity Task Force of the International Life Sciences Institute, European Branch, organized an expert group to attempt to identify robust and predictive markers, or patterns or clusters of markers, which can be used to assess inflammation in human nutrition studies in the general population. Inflammation is a normal process and there are a number of cells and mediators involved. These markers are involved in, or are produced as a result of, the inflammatory process irrespective of its trigger and its location and are common to all inflammatory situations. Currently, there is no consensus as to which markers of inflammation best represent low-grade inflammation or differentiate between acute and chronic inflammation or between the various phases of inflammatory responses. There are a number of modifying factors that affect the concentration of an inflammatory marker at a given time, including age, diet and body fatness, among others. Measuring the concentration of inflammatory markers in the bloodstream under basal conditions is probably less informative compared with data related to the concentration change in response to a challenge. A number of inflammatory challenges have been described. However, many of these challenges are poorly standardised. Patterns and clusters may be important as robust biomarkers of inflammation. Therefore, it is likely that a combination of multiple inflammatory markers and integrated readouts based upon kinetic analysis following defined challenges will be the most informative biomarker of inflammation.
为了有意义地监测炎症，使用的标志物必须是有效的：它们必须反映所研究的炎症过程，并且必须能够预测未来的健康状况。2009 年，国际生命科学学会（欧洲分会）营养与免疫工作组组织了一个专家组，试图确定稳健且可预测的标志物，或标志物模式或标志物群，可用于评估一般人群中人类营养研究中的炎症。炎症是一种正常的过程，涉及到许多细胞和介质。这些标志物参与炎症过程，或者是炎症过程的结果，而不管其触发因素、位置如何，并且在所有炎症情况下都很常见。目前，对于哪些炎症标志物最能代表低度炎症，或者区分急性和慢性炎症，或者炎症反应的各个阶段，尚无共识。有许多调节因素会影响特定时间点炎症标志物的浓度，包括年龄、饮食和体脂肪等。与响应挑战时的浓度变化相关的数据相比，在基础条件下测量血液中炎症标志物的浓度可能不太有意义。已经描述了许多炎症挑战。但是，其中许多挑战的标准化程度较差。模式和聚类可能是炎症的稳健生物标志物。因此，多种炎症标志物的组合以及基于定义挑战后的动力学分析的综合读数可能是炎症的最有信息的生物标志物。
