A Mechanism by which Chronic Inflammation Spurs Cancer Metastasis

Chronic inflammation is a risk factor for cancer and cancer mortality. There are numerous reasons as to why this might be the case, some much more proven and settled than others, but the research here is focused on metastasis, the spread of cancerous cells throughout the body. Since cancer mortality is largely determined by whether or not a tumor progresses to the point of metastasis, we should not be surprised that researchers can identify mechanisms linking inflammation with metastasis. Dysregulated inflammation is recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer and is involved in tumor initiation, progression, and metastasis. Chronic inflammatory conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or ulcerative colitis, are strongly associated with elevated cancer incidence. Chronic use of aspirin or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduces mortality of esophageal, colorectal, and lung cancers. Thus chronic inflammation facilitates tumor progression. We discovered that a subset of non-small cell lung cancer cells underwent a gradually progressing epithelial-to-mesenchymal (EMT) phenotype following a 21-day exposure to IL-1β, an abundant proinflammatory cytokine in individuals at-risk for lung cancer, and in the lung tumor microenvironments. Pathway analysis of the gene expression profile and in vitro functional studies revealed that the EMT and EMT-associated phenotypes, including enhanced cell invasion, PD-L1 upregulation, and chemoresistan...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs