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