Carcinogenesis Advance Access published online on May 25, 2009
Carcinogenesis, doi:10.1093/carcin/bgp127
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Cancer-related inflammation, the seventh hallmark of cancer: links to genetic instability
1 Nerviano Medical Sciences, Nerviano, 20014 Nerviano, Milan, Italy
2 Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, Via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano, Milan, Italy
3 Institute of Pathology, University of Piemonte Orientale, 28100 Novara, Italy
4 Department of Translational Medicine, University of Milan, Italy
* Corresponding author – Alberto Mantovani, Istituto Clinico Humanitas - Immunology and Inflammation, Via Manzoni 56 , Rozzano 20089 Italy, alberto.mantovani{at}humanitas.it
Inflammatory conditions in selected organs increase the risk of cancer. An inflammatory component is present also in the microenvironment of tumors that are not epidemiologically related to inflammation. Recent studies have begun to unravel molecular pathways linking inflammation and cancer. In the tumor microenvironment, smouldering inflammation contributes to proliferation and survival of malignant cells, angiogenesis, metastasis, subversion of adaptive immunity, reduced response to hormones and chemotherapeutic agents. Recent data suggest that an additional mechanism involved in cancer related inflammation (CRI) is induction of genetic instability by inflammatory mediators, leading to accumulation of random genetic alterations in cancer cells. In a seminal contribution (Cell, 2000), Hanahan and Weinberg identified the six hallmarks of cancer. We surmise that CRI represents the seventh hallmark.
Received February 20, 2009; revised April 27, 2009; accepted May 14, 2009.