CANCER-RELATED INFLAMMATION
The link between inflammation and cancer isn’t new, in 1863, Virchow
theorized that cancer emerges from the foci of chronic inflammation. In
his part, he theorized that some types of irritants and tissue injury
enhance cell proliferation . Inflammation is defined as when the body
confronts agents like viruses, bacteria or toxic chemicals or suffers an
injury, the immune system gets activated . Our immune system sends some
responders like Cytokines and inflammatory cells, as well as other white
blood cells, produce substances that divide and grow cells, rebuild the
tissue and repair the damage. When the injury heals, the inflammatory
process ends. In chronic Inflammation, the process of inflammation
begins without injury and doesn’t stop when needed. It can be caused by
a condition such as an abnormal immune response to healthy cells, and
persistent infection though it’s usually unknown why the inflammation
persists. Gradually, chronic inflammation may damage DNA and triggers
cancer. For instance, individuals with IBD such as ulcerative colitis
and Crohn’s disease are at increased risk of colon cancer. In the host,
persistent infection causes chronic inflammation because white blood
cells and other phagocytes induce DNA damage in the proliferating cells
by releasing reactive oxygen and reactive nitrates which are normally
released to combat inflammation, then reacts to form mutagenic substance
peroxynitrite . Therefore, repeated tissue damage and regeneration in
the presence of highly reactive nitrogen and oxygen released by
inflammatory cells interact with the proliferating epithelial DNA
causing point mutations and deletions, resulting in permanent genomic
changes . In cancer development, the role of chronic inflammation is not
a minor one. It is believed that one in five cancer caused by
inflammation . Pancreatic, colitis and hepatitis are examples of
inflammatory diseases that are linked to a greater risk of liver, colon
and pancreatic cancer. These diseases cause DNA damage and divide the
cells. Chronic inflammation like H.pylori is linked to stomach cancer,
whereas hepatitis B and hepatitis C are related to liver cancer . Human
herpesvirus 8 is linked with Kaposi sarcoma. People with esophagitis and
Barrett’s metaplasia along with chronic pancreatitis are at higher risk
of oesophageal and pancreatic cancer . A link between chronic asthma and
Lung cancer, Foreskin infection and penile Cancer, and Ovarian
epithelial infection leads to ovarian cancer, prostatitis infection and
prostate cancer are all observed . In the past few years, scientists are
focused on the development of anti-malignant drugs, nonetheless, poor
responses and chronic toxicity are still in the news. The recent
therapeutic approach for cancer therapy is immunotherapy and mast cells
represent the essential target for immunotherapy .