Question

Give an example of what causes a shift from acute inflammation to chronic inflammation

Answer 1

Inflammation is a normal response of the body to protect
tissues from infection, injury or disease.
The inflammatory response begins with the production and release of chemical agents by cells in the infected, injured or diseased tissue. These agents cause redness, swelling, pain, heat and loss of function.
Inflamed tissues generate additional signals that recruit leukocytes to the site of inflammation. Leukocytes destroy any infective or injurious agent, and remove cellular debris from damaged tissue.
This inflammatory response usually promotes healing but, if uncontrolled, may become harmful.

Acute inflammation typically lasts only a few days. If a wound gets hot, turns red, hurts, and swells, we recognize that inflammation is at work. In this instance, inflammation is a beneficial process, serving to immobilize the area of injury as the rest of the immune system mobilizes to heal.
Inflammation is the first line of defense against injury or infection. The treatment of acute inflammation, where therapy includes the administration of aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, provides relief of pain and fever for patients.
In contrast, chronic inflammation lasts weeks, months or even indefinitely and causes tissue damage.

In chronic inflammation, the inflammation becomes the problem rather than the solution to infection, injury or disease. Chronically inflamed tissues continue to generate signals that attract leukocytes from the bloodstream.
When leukocytes migrate from the bloodstream into the tissue they amplify the inflammatory response. This chronic inflammatory response can break down healthy tissue in a misdirected attempt at repair and healing.
Diseases characterized by chronic inflammation include, among others: Crohn’s
Lupus
Psoriasis
Diabetes
Coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis) Rheumatoid arthritis
Asthma
Solid organ transplant rejection
Chronic Bronchitis
Cancer

During acute inflammation, innate immune cells form the first line of immune defense and regulate activation of adaptive immune responses.
By contrast, during chronic inflammation, these roles can be reversed — adaptive immune responses can cause ongoing and excessive activation of innate immune cells.
Regardless of the underlying initiating cause, if an infectious or assaulting agent is inadequately cleared and persists in tissue, or a tissue is subjected to ongoing insult and damage that fails to heal in a timely manner, host inflammatory responses can persist and exacerbate chronic tissue damage, which can cause primary organ dysfunction and systemic complications.
  
During acute inflammation, innate immune cells form the first line of immune defense and regulate activation of adaptive immune responses. By contrast, during chronic inflammation, these roles can be reversed — adaptive immune responses can cause ongoing and excessive activation of innate immune cells.