Specialized Pro-Resolving Mediators: As Close to a Panpharmacon as We Can Get?

Harvard's award-winning Dr. Charles Serhan isn't just an expert on
specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators (SPMs), he is the
scientist who actually discovered them. His breakthroughs opened up
a brand new field of research and clinical application with immense
potential. After all, chronic, unresolved inflammation is a
contributor or cause of so many conditions. The growing body of
research on the utility of SPMs continues to astound (although when
you start to understand the mechanisms, it's perhaps easy to
understand some of the "why") - pain, rheumatoid, osteo- and Lyme
arthritis, macular degeneration, periodontal disease, uveitis,
surgical recovery, and repetitive head injury, for instance, have
all been shown to be potentially benefited by the ability of SPMs
to promote inflammation resolution. Clinically, I consider SPMs in
all conditions where unresolved inflammation is a contributing
factor. Not only that, but SPMs appear to have some rather
surprising additional effects including stem cell regulation,
tissue regeneration, and inhibition of amyloid-beta peptide in
Alzheimer's models (even restoring memory loss in mice). I am
honored to host Dr. Serhan here on New Frontiers along with his
esteemed colleague, Dr. Megan Sulciner. Dr. Sulciner is a
clinician-scientist and resident in the Serhan Lab whose exciting
work focuses on advancing postoperative outcomes for surgical
patients as well as the role of SPMs in enhancing cancer therapy
and preventing cancer metastasis. I’m sure you will love this
insightful, tour-de-force conversation! ~DrKF