Ecology of inflammation in lowland Bolivia

炎症是免疫防御感染性疾病的重要组成部分，但炎症也可能导致慢性退行性疾病的发展，包括心血管疾病和糖尿病。 从历史上看，人类一直生活在以高水平微生物暴露和高死亡率为特征的环境中，但目前对炎症的理解主要基于低水平传染病的工业化环境中的研究。 与非临床环境中采血相关的方法学障碍导致当前研究范围有限。 该项目正在调查亚马逊地区感染性疾病高发人群的炎症水平，并验证在非临床环境中测量促炎和抗炎细胞因子的“现场友好”方法。 在8周的时间内，从偏远的低地亚马逊地区的50名成年人中重复收集与健康相关的信息和干血斑（DBS）样本（在简单的手指针刺后在滤纸上收集的全血滴）。 测量这些样本中的C反应蛋白（炎症的关键生物标志物），以记录炎症活动的水平和模式。 在该项目的第二阶段，研究人员正在开发从这50名个体中提取的DBS样本中定量细胞因子的方法。该项目的结果直接解决了当前关于生态学，炎症和疾病之间联系的科学争论，并推进了人类生态免疫学的人类学研究。 此外，测量单滴血中细胞因子的微创方法的发展将促进国际上以及美国社区环境中未来对炎症的研究。 更好地了解影响炎症调节的因素可能对疾病的预防和治疗具有重要意义。

Inflammation is an important part of immune defenses against infectious disease, but inflammation may also contribute to the development of chronic degenerative diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Historically, humans have lived in environments characterized by high levels of microbial exposure and high rates of mortality due to infectious disease, yet current understandings of inflammation are based primarily on research in industrialized settings with low levels of infectious disease. Methodological obstacles associated with blood collection in non-clinical settings contribute to the limited range of current research. This project is investigating levels of inflammation in an Amazonian population experiencing high levels of infectious disease and validating "field-friendly" methods for measuring pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in non-clinical settings. Health-related information and dried blood spot (DBS) samples (drops of whole blood collected on filter paper following a simple finger stick) are collected repeatedly over an 8 week period from fifty adults in remote lowland Amazonia. These samples are measured for C-reactive protein, a key biomarker of inflammation, in order to document levels and patterns of inflammatory activity. In phase two of this project, the researchers are developing methods for quantifying cytokines in the DBS samples taken from these fifty individual.Results from this project directly address current scientific debates regarding the links among ecology, inflammation, and disease, and advance anthropological research in human ecological immunology. In addition, the development of minimally-invasive methods for measuring cytokines in a single drop of blood will promote future research on inflammation internationally, as well as in community-based settings in the United States. A better understanding of the factors that shape the regulation of inflammation may have significant implications for the prevention and treatment of disease.