ABSTRACT
Evidence continues to accumulate suggesting that the human inflammatory immunologic axis may be etiologic in many of the modern diseases of man, notably, airway, joint, and endothelial diseases, e.g., hayfever, bronchitis, emphysema, fibrotic syndromes, neoplasia. The inflammatory cytotoxic potential of human cells can be aroused by innumerable natural products from microbial or plant sources, e.g., microbial chemotactic peptides, oxidized fatty acids, ionophores, lectins, and complex esters. An evaluation of the temporal relationships of some of the events following binding of two types of receptors, i.e., chemotactic receptor and secretory receptor, have been done. Since the cytotoxic potential of the inflammatory system can be fully released by mechanisms independent of the ionic controls, e.g., digitonin or phorbol esters, the best control remains the avoidance of hydrophobic provocateurs. When molecules are host-derived, prevention of the injury which caused the release of the internal provocateurs is then the proper therapeutic approach.
