Cytokines and Chronic Disease: What You Need to Know About Inflammation

A healthy immune system produces inflammation-producing molecules called cytokines. When working properly, these molecules help you heal from injuries and fight infections. But when cytokine production becomes chronic and excessive, it can fuel autoimmune diseases, accelerate aging, and worsen symptoms like pain, fatigue, and brain fog.

In this blog, I'll explain what cytokines are, why chronic inflammation develops, and the environmental factors that that can exacerbate inflammation. We’ll also explore what you can do to calm an overactive immune system, resolve inflammation, and support your body's natural healing processes.

Good Inflammation

Inflammation plays an important, protective role in the immune system. When you scrape your knee, cut your finger, or break a bone, your immune cells secrete cytokines (inflammation-driving molecules) and chemokines—signaling molecules that recruit other immune cells to the injury site.

These inflammation-producing molecules serve several critical functions: They help kill germs that could cause infection; they digest damaged cells and clear away debris like damaged cells and bony fragments. And once the cleanup is complete, a different set of cytokines signal that it's time for stem cells to arrive and rebuild whatever was damaged—whether that's bone, tendons, skin, or other tissues.

This is how a healthy immune system is supposed to work. It continuously inspects your body for signs of damage that need repair, external threats like bacteria or viruses, and internal threats like pre-cancerous cells that need to be attacked and neutralized.

When Inflammation Becomes A Problem

Inflammation becomes problematic when it turns chronic, contributing to many different chronic diseases.

If cell receptors are damaged by environmental toxins—from tobacco use, air pollution, or other exposures—your immune cells can have difficulty recognizing certain cells as belonging to "self." This confusion can lead to the development of autoantibodies that attack your own tissues.

Molecular Mimicry: What It Is and Why It Matters

If you have a leaky gut (increased intestinal permeability), incompletely digested food proteins can leak into your bloodstream. Your immune system may begin producing antibodies against these food protein fragments.

And if those food protein fragments have a similar amino acid sequence to certain proteins found in some of the tissues in your body, those antibodies can begin attacking your own tissues, in a process called molecular mimicry.

Some amino acid sequences in dairy and gluten are similar to amino acid sequences in brain receptors. This means people with leaky gut may be at risk of developing neurological or mental health symptoms through molecular mimicry. Chronic inflammation from this process also accelerates aging and contributes to high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and osteoarthritis.

Specific Cytokines Linked to Excessive Chronic Inflammation

Researchers have identified specific cytokines associated with chronic high levels of inflammation in autoimmune and chronic diseases. The three most commonly tracked are:

• Interleukin 1-beta (IL-1β)
• Interleukin 6 (IL-6)
• Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α)

These three cytokines are elevated in many chronic disease states, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and numerous autoimmune conditions. When your immune system produces too many of these molecules, they trigger more immune cell activation and more inflammation, creating a cycle that negatively impacts your health.

My Cytokine Story

I have multiple sclerosis, and had neurological symptoms starting at age 23. But looking back further, my symptoms actually began in adolescence — which means I likely had excessive inflammation in my body for years before I was diagnosed.

My menstrual periods brought heavy bleeding and severe cramps, which were eventually diagnosed as endometriosis. I needed an inhaler for mild exercise-induced asthma. I struggled with moderately severe depression and chronic migraines.

All of these conditions can be tied to excessive cytokines and an overactive immune system.

Dialing Back Chronic Inflammation

So how can we calm an overactive innate immune system?

In patients who have leaky gut, bacterial fragments leak into the bloodstream and increase cytokine production (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α). My approach focuses on helping my patients improve their diet, ideally adopting a Paleo-style eating pattern. Sometimes I recommend an elimination diet or food sensitivity testing to identify which foods may be triggering reactions. I also encourage bone broths and soups to help heal the gut lining.

Nrf2 Pathways: The Inflammation “Off Switch”

Nuclear factor erythroid 2 (Nrf2) is a protein that turns on genes designed to calm your innate immune system and shift the signal toward reducing inflammation and promoting repair.
I work with my patients to change their diets in ways that stimulate these Nrf2 pathways, activating genes that calm inflammation. I specifically designed the Wahls diet plans to help resolve chronic inflammation by supporting these Nrf2 pathways.

Foods That Support Nrf-2 Pathways

The foods I emphasize for my patients include:

• Cabbage family vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale)
• Garlic and onions
• Spices like ginger and turmeric

I also recommend reducing or eliminating added sugars and white flour-based foods, which can increase inflammation.

How's your diet? Have you reduced or eliminated added sugars and processed foods?

Drugs That Target Nrf-2 Pathways

Some disease-modifying drug treatments for autoimmune conditions work by modulating the Nrf2 pathway. For example, dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera®) uses this mechanism to treat autoimmune diseases including optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.1

This pathway regulates the production of important antioxidant molecules like glutathione and superoxide dismutase (SOD). It also regulates the production of detoxification enzymes and downregulates signaling factors such as NF-κB. Research shows these pathways can help reduce disease activity in multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and optic neuritis.2-4

Supplements That Target Nrf-2 Pathways

Taking a nutraceutical that stimulates the Nrf2 pathway can be an excellent way to optimize your physiology if you have an autoimmune condition such as optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis, or psoriasis.

I recommend my autoimmune patients optimize their diet and also consider using Cytokine Modulator to support the Nrf2 pathway and reduce inflammation.

Closing Thoughts

If my patients continue to show autoimmune disease activity with relapses or new lesions, I encourage them to take disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) to stop disease progression. This isn't an either/or situation — you don't have to choose between DMTs and addressing environmental factors.

I want all of my patients to optimize their diet, sleep, and exercise. I also want them to activate their Nrf2 pathways to turn on genes that lower inflammation. A better diet, good sleep, and regular exercise all help. I also recommend adding Cytokine Modulator to activate inflammation-lowering genes and speed recovery.

Citations

1. Yadav SK, Soin D, Ito K, Dhib-Jalbut S. Insight into the mechanism of action of dimethyl fumarate in multiple sclerosis. J Mol Med (Berl). 2019;97(4):463-472.
2. Carvalho AN, Lim JL, Nijland PG, Witte ME, Van Horssen J. Glutathione in multiple sclerosis: more than just an antioxidant? Mult Scler. 2014;20(11):1425-1431.
3. Rosito M, Testi C, Parisi G, Cortese B, Baiocco P, Di Angelantonio S. Exploring the Use of Dimethyl Fumarate as Microglia Modulator for Neurodegenerative Diseases Treatment. Antioxidants (Basel). 2020;9(8).
4. Gesser B, Rasmussen MK, Iversen L. Dimethyl Fumarate Targets MSK1, RSK1, 2 and IKKalpha/beta Kinases and Regulates NF-kappaB /p65 Activation in Psoriasis: A Demonstration of the Effect on Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells, Drawn from Two Patients with Severe Psoriasis Before and After Treatment with Dimethyl Fumarate. Psoriasis (Auckl). 2020;10:1-11.