Switching off the cytokine storm

Researchers provide essential insights on the molecular activation of the MAP kinase p38?, the final switch triggering the inflammatory response. Inflammation is a cellular coping mechanism when confronted with stress, such as an infection. However, too much inflammation can damage the functioning of cells and organs. This is the case with cytokine storms, inflammatory cascades that can lead to severe disease and death, recently highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic. These results open up new directions to develop drugs to prevent cytokine storms and to study similar processes in two other families of MAP kinases, involved in cancer and Alzheimer's disease respectively.

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