![]() Now, we are still struggling to fully understand the role of inflammation in cancer progression and metastatic spreading, and try to exploit it to the benefit of the patient. As early as 1858 Virchow had clearly suggested that there was a causal link between chronic inflammation and cancer, but we have simply forgotten this crucial observation. The relationship between inflammation and cancer is a paradigmatic example of this. Men are often oblivious of the contributions of our ancestors. The cancer-promoting effect of inflammation was further dissected into its mechanistic components with the discovery of those cells responsible for immunosuppression within the cancer microenvironment, the myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Thousand reports followed ever since highlighting the cancer-promoting effects of inflammation, a finding to be honest that was well known to practicing physicians. This changed dramatically following the seminal observation of Francis Balkwill that TNF-ko mice were surprisingly less prone to cancer than wt. Until recently, it was generally thought that inflammation was a protective response, or in the worst case the epiphenomenon of body reaction to cancer with no relevant consequences. ![]() Inflammation and cancer have a long-standing association. Purinergic receptors in cancer and inflammation: from Rudolph Virchow to Geoff BurnstockÄepartment of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Italy
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