Inflammatory Syndrome Regulated by WNT/β-Catenin, Non-Muscle Myosin and α-SMA Is a Self-Organized Dissipative Structure

In medicine, several pathological processes have been characterized as dissipative structures. Until now, no medical syndrome had been classified as such. One of the most common—pulmonary inflammatory syndrome, characterized by redness, heat, swelling and pain—exhibits various properties required for the definition of a dissipative structure. It occurs in an open far-from-equilibrium system: its thermodynamic force varies non-linearly with its thermodynamic flow. Its excess entropy production is negative, conferring upon it the characteristics of a self-organized structure. Finally, it exhibits a bifurcation on the graph of entropy production rate plotted against a specific parameter (G, the curvature of the tension–velocity relationship). These characteristics are observed in various pulmonary diseases, such as cancer, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, infection, etc. They share a common feature: the inflammatory syndrome that characterizes them all. The notable clinical signs are the activation of WNT/β-catenin, non-muscle myosin and α-SMA in newly formed myofibroblasts, which define the inflammatory syndrome.