office_hours:inflammation:start
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Understanding Inflammation (Office Hours Series)
This series is the mechanistic backbone for a huge portion of pharmacology: NSAIDs, Corticosteroids, Antihistamines, Asthma Meds, Biologics, Rheum Drugs, and more.
Quick Links
What You’ll Learn
- Acute vs chronic inflammation (what changes, and why it matters)
- Where histamine, prostaglandins, leukotrienes, cytokines fit
- How steroids differ from NSAIDs (and why biologics are “upstream”)
- How to predict therapeutic benefit + adverse effects from pathway position
If you understand the pathway, you stop memorizing drug lists.
Episodes
Episode 1 — The Inflammation Map (Big Picture)
📄 Download Slides (PDF)
Download Slides (PDF)
Episode 2 — Arachidonic Acid Pathway (NSAIDs vs Leukotrienes)
📄 Download Slides (PDF)
Download Slides (PDF)
Episode 3 — Cytokines & JAK/STAT (Why Biologics Work)
📄 Download Slides (PDF)
Download Slides (PDF)
Episode 4 — Hypersensitivity vs Autoimmunity (Clinical Patterns)
📄 Download Slides (PDF)
Download Slides (PDF)
High-Yield Framework
| Target Level | Examples | What It Usually Does |
|---|---|---|
| Mast cells / histamine | antihistamines, omalizumab (IgE) | helps allergy symptoms; not great for deep autoimmune disease |
| Arachidonic acid (COX/LOX) | NSAIDs, aspirin, zileuton, montelukast | pain/fever/inflammation; leukotrienes = airway + allergy |
| Gene transcription | corticosteroids | broad suppression; powerful but lots of systemic adverse effects |
| Cytokines / signaling | TNF inhibitors, IL inhibitors, JAK inhibitors | “upstream” control; high impact in autoimmune disease |
Related
office_hours/inflammation/start.1771177306.txt.gz · Last modified: by andrew2393cns