> inflammation is the description of what is happening (ie, symptom) not the "cause"

If you chemically turn off inflammation and the negative downstream effects disappear, then inflammation is arguably a cause of those negative effects. Inflammation is supposed to be a healthy response to various conditions, but that isn't always the case, so when it's causing negative effects it becomes a pathology and arguably a cause.

Now if you're trying to argue some sort of infinite regress, then the Big Bang tautologically caused everything and nothing else is a meaningful cause.