SCIENCE TALK: Inflammation Causes Disease: Science Gone Terribly Wrong

“Everyone knows” that hyperinflammation (often referred to as a “cytokine storm”) is a cause of every disease known. This must be true because we see references to this idea on late-night television, in print media, in pop culture pronouncements, in alternative medicine promotions and testimonials, on vitamin pill bottles, in the Skeptical Enquirer, and at the work water cooler. Uncountable scientists and health care professionals swear fealty to this idea and relentlessly promote it in a manner that resembles a cult. It is likely resources exceeding I trillion dollars have been spent on anti-inflammation research/drugs/promotions, and the expenditures increase by billions of dollars every year. Therefore, it must be true. Right? It is true that some diseases indeed are caused by inflammation, and anti-inflammation drugs have been of great benefit. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases there is no evidence supporting an inflammation-disease connection. Moreover, it is likely that no such association exists. Within the medical community, the idea hyperinflammation causes disease has been most extensively studied for a role in sepsis. Sepsis is inflammation sufficient to cause organ malfunction or death due to infection. Despite hundreds of failed clinical trials designed to treat sepsis with anti-inflammation measures, the medical community has failed to take the hint. Ongoing studies in this area continue despite an unprecedented history of failure. In this presentation I will make a unique convincing and overwhelming case that this path needs to stop. Now. The focus will be on scientific and clinical evidence but will include philosophical considerations focusing on the work of Thomas Kuhn (the paradigm guy) that helps us understand how such a bad idea has remained unfalsifiable and attained such widespread acceptance. The disastrous history of attempts to treat sepsis with inflammation blockers is now playing out in other diseases. Not sure about all this? Read this recent New York Times article about a high-profile failed anti-inflammation drug designed to treat heart disease: [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/science/heart-disease-drug-fails-novo-nordisk.html](https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2026%2F08%2F06%2Fscience%2Fheart-disease-drug-fails-novo-nordisk.html&data=05%7C02%7CClyde.Zaidins%40ucdenver.edu%7Cce002947aac54118ef9e08df13a98b6c%7C563337caa517421aaae01aa5b414fd7f%7C0%7C0%7C639251291033843474%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=F8A9r2wZmOFGuDEQE%2ByaF9i2c8%2B1g1K95lS00jgtXBE%3D&reserved=0 "Original URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/06/science/heart-disease-drug-fails-novo-nordisk.html. Click or tap if you trust this link."). WARNING, if you believe in the hyperinflammation concept of disease and are impervious to logic, common sense, and sound scientific explanation, this presentation may be hazardous to your health.

About The Speaker
Leland (Lee) Shapiro was born in Memphis, Tennessee and grew up in the Boston area. He went to college at Tufts University where he majored in Psychology and Philosophy. After a graduate year in Philosophy at Tufts, Lee went to University of Massachusetts Medical school where he also completed a one-year residency program in anatomic pathology. He then completed medicine residency and chief medical residency at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Then back to Boston for clinical + research fellowship in infectious Diseases at the New England Medical Center where he worked in the laboratory of the “father of cytokines” Dr. Charles Dinarello. After that, he went to the University of Colorado to take a faculty position at the Anschutz Medical campus /Medical School and as Staff Physician at the Rocky mountain Regional Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He was principal investigator for many years of a successful basic science laboratory that made high-profile HIV discoveries and pioneered a novel field of medicine that resulted in front page appearances in several newspapers (including the Denver Post) and television appearances. Unfounded rumors included appearances in shaving commercials. Dr. Shapiro then terminated his career in basic research in a high-stakes gamble to create the novel field of theoretical medicine. Why? Dr. Shapiro believed a theoretical solution was the only path to solve one of the most important and perplexing problems in his field of Infectious Diseases. The problem was understanding the true nature of inflammation and how severe infections cause organ malfunction or death (called sepsis). Inflammation and sepsis are linked because it is thought excessive inflammation is the exceptionless cause of sepsis; “the bugs don’t kill you, they make you kill yourself”. Dr. Shapiro is regarded as a threatening voice combatting the hyperinflammation or cytokine storm concept of sepsis and other diseases. This work is Funded by the Emily Foundation for Medical Research. For fun, Lee is a recreational in-line speed skater, competes in Table Tennis internationally, is an amateur magician, and has read >20,000 comic books.