A new technique to diagnose chronic inflammation developed at Nagoya University can read information from the surface and within individual extracellular vesicles in blood and urine. This technique could be used to develop non-invasive tests that can not only detect chronic inflammation but also provide information about the tissues where it occurs.

Whenever our body faces damage from injury, illness, or toxins, it launches an inflammatory response that involves dilating blood vessels to rush fluid and nutrients to the affected site and sending inflammatory cells to destroy pathogens and repair tissue.

But sometimes, the body’s immune system can keep sending inflammatory cells to attack tissues or organs over months or years, even in the absence of any threat. Known as chronic inflammation, it underlies cancers, brain disorders, autoimmune diseases and heart disease, and it gradually causes irreversible tissue damage.