Understanding the molecular basis of complex biological processes has
been a major goal of biological chemistry from early on. Inflammation is
one such entity, and recent years have seen exciting progress in the
under standing of molecular interactions; there has been a long way from
dolor, rubor, calor, and tumor as a fundamental description of the
phenomenon to current knowledge, e.g., on the control of the respiratory
burst of the granulocyte, the atomic details of protease regulation, or
the interaction of cytokines. We were glad to have been given the
opportunity by the Gesellschaft fUr Biologische Chemie to call upon
experts in this bustling field of research for this Colloquium. The
sessions were organized in the order of increasing complexity, starting
with the key phenomena of the inflamma tory response and its modulation
by cytokines to intravascular events and shock and sepsis; thus, the
current attempts to apply basic knowledge on mediators of inflammation
to the clinical situation were also considered. In-depth chapters
presenting the state of the art in these areas are collected in this
book, and we thank the authors for their efforts. We also thank the
Chairmen of the sessions, Profs. C. Sorg (Munster), D. Roos (Amsterdam),
S. Bhakdi (Mainz), H. J. Muller-Eberhard (Hamburg), H. G. Schwick
(Marburg), K. Resch (Hannover), W. Schaper (Bad Nauheim), D. Keppler
(Heidelberg), and O. Trentz (Zurich) for their input, and it is a great
pleasure to acknowledge the support by Drs."