One of the most important but as yet unanswered questions in inflammation research is not
why inflammation occurs (we all get episodes of self limiting inflammation during the course
of our lives) but why it does not resolve. Current models of inflammation stress the role of
antigen-specific lymphocyte responses and attempt to address the causative agent.
However, recent studies have begun to challenge the primacy of the leukocyte and have
instead focused on an extended immune system in which stromal cells, such as fibroblasts …