EurekAlert reports that "a specific gene on chromosome 15 regulates inflammation, a finding with implications for a wide range of disorders, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer's, and infections. ... this discovery will be of great interest to biomedical and pharmaceutical researchers because of an already heightened understanding of the role of inflammation in so many human disorders. ... [the gene is] a type of 'garbage truck' that helps clear cells of misfolded proteins that build up when cells are placed under stress, Blangero said. Inflammation develops when those faulty proteins accumulate in a cell. People with a genetic variation that impairs [the] ability to purify the cells by clearing out the bad proteins tend to suffer higher levels of inflammation."

Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/mcow-sdi100405.php