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Elsevier

The Inflammatory Ecosystem and Inflammazones

Mapping the Complex Terrain of Inflammatory Diseases

  • 1st Edition - September 30, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Authors: Erwei Song, Phei Er Saw
  • Language: English

The Inflammatory Ecosystem and Inflammazones offers a groundbreaking framework for understanding inflammation across multiple spatial and molecular levels. It introduces the concep… Read more

Description

The Inflammatory Ecosystem and Inflammazones offers a groundbreaking framework for understanding inflammation across multiple spatial and molecular levels. It introduces the concept of distinct inflammazones—local, regional, distal, and systemic—and explores how their interactions influence disease development, progression, and resolution. This holistic approach integrates cellular, molecular, microbiome, and systemic responses, addressing a critical gap in current knowledge and advancing diagnostics and therapies for diseases like autoimmunity and cancer. The book is organized into six sections, starting with foundational principles and progressing through mechanisms of local, regional, and systemic inflammazones. It covers key components such as cytokines, chemokines, immune cells, and the roles of non-immune cells like fibroblasts and epithelial cells. The final sections focus on systems-level insights, including inflammaging, metabolism, and multi-omics technologies, culminating in strategies for personalized medicine and clinical translation. Each chapter combines cutting-edge research with clinical relevance, making complex concepts accessible and actionable. The Inflammatory Ecosystem and Inflammazones is essential for researchers and clinicians seeking to understand the complex landscape of inflammation. It highlights disease heterogeneity, emerging therapeutic targets, and the importance of systems biology, providing the foundational knowledge to shape future inflammation research and treatment strategies.

Key features

  • Presents the innovative concept of inflammazones, redefining the spatial organization of inflammation
  • Integrates molecular, cellular, and systemic perspectives for a comprehensive understanding of inflammatory diseases
  • Highlights emerging therapeutic targets within distinct inflammazones for personalized treatment strategies
  • Connects basic research with clinical applications, enhancing diagnostic and intervention approaches
  • Provides a systems-level framework to explore inflammation’s role in chronic and age-related diseases

Readership

Clinical and basic science researchers in immunology and inflammation, particularly those focused on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of inflammatory diseases, as well as healthcare professionals (such as immunologists and rheumatologists) studying or treating conditions driven by chronic inflammation

Table of contents

SECTION I: Foundations of Inflammation

1. Introduction to inflammation

2. The inflammatory ecosystem: An overview

SECTION II: Local and Regional Inflammazones

3. Local inflammazone: Solid-like signalosomes

4. Local inflammazone: Liquid phase separation

5. Local inflammazones: Granuloma

6. Regional inflammazone: Lymph nodes

7. Dendritic cells in interzonal communication

SECTION III: Distal and Systemic Inflammazones

8. Distal inflammazones: Organ-specific inflammation

9. Interzonal communicators: Exosomes of immune cells

10. Systemic inflammazones: Low to high grade inflammation

11. Systemic inflammazone: The endothelium

12. Systemic inflammazone: Viruses in inflammatory diseases

13. Systemic inflammazone: Gut microbiome in inflammatory diseases

14. Systemic inflammazone: Skin microbiome in inflammatory diseases

15. Systemic inflammazone: Lung microbiome in inflammatory diseases

16. Systemic inflammazone: Vaginal microbiome and inflammatory diseases

17. Systemic inflammazone: Urinary microbiome

SECTION IV: Cellular and Molecular Components of Inflammation

18. Components in inflammatory diseases: Cytokines

19. Components in inflammatory diseases: Chemokines

20. Components in inflammatory diseases: ROS

21. Immune cells: Macrophage – friends or foes?

22. Immune cells: Neutrophils

23. Immune cells: Basophils in inflammatory diseases

24. Immune cells: Eosinophils in inflammatory diseases

25. Immune cells: Mast cells in inflammatory diseases

26. Immune cells: T cells in inflammatory diseases

27. Immune cells: B cells and plasma cells in inflammatory diseases

28. Non-immune cells: Fibroblasts in inflammation

29. Non-immune cells: Platelets in inflammation

30. Non-immune cells: Stem cells in inflammation

31. Non-immune cells: Epithelial cells in inflammation

SECTION V: Systems-level Insights in Inflammation

32. Inflammaging, senescence and inflammation

33. Metabolism and inflammation

34. Resolution of inflammation

35. Multi-omics in diagnosis of chronic inflammation

36. Subtyping in inflammatory diseases

37. Emerging biomarkers in inflammatory diseases

38. Genetics and epigenetics in inflammatory diseases

39. Environmental and biological factors in Inducing Inflammation

SECTION VI: Clinical Applications and Future Directions

40. Precision medicine delivering therapeutics

41. Clinical integration: a summary of inflammatory ecosystem

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: September 30, 2026
  • Language: English

About the authors

ES

Erwei Song

Erwei Song is a Professor of Breast Surgery at Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and President of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Zhongshan Medical School and trained at Harvard Medical School, where his groundbreaking study on siRNA was recognized by Science as a top 2003 breakthrough. A pioneer of breast-conserving surgery in China, Prof. Song developed the “Theory of Tumor Ecosystem,” advancing cancer immunotherapy. His research has uncovered new immune and stromal cell types, receptors, and regulatory RNAs, offering novel therapeutic targets. He has published 156 SCI papers, including in Nature, Cell, and Cancer Cell, with over 12,000 citations. He serves on editorial boards of major journals and has received top honors such as the National Innovation Award and TWAS Award. Prof. Song also led the creation of China’s first breast-conserving surgery guidelines.

Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Breast Surgery, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU); Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; and President of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital, China

PS

Phei Er Saw

Phei Er Saw is a distinguished researcher at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital's Medical Research Center, Sun Yat-sen University, China. She earned her PhD in Bio-Nano Medicine from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and completed postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School. In 2018, she joined Sun Yat-sen University through the "Hundred Talents Program," focusing on nanomedicine and tumor immunotherapy. Prof. Saw has published 100 papers, accumulating over 8,500 citations. She has recently proposed conceptual advances on tumor ecosystem, stem cell mimicry, and inflammazones in inflammatory skin diseases.

Affiliations and expertise
Researcher, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital's Medical Research Center, Sun Yat-sen University, China