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Cancer

An inflammatory link

Nature volume 431, pages 405–406 (2004)Cite this article

The NF-κB protein is a key player in inflammation. It now seems that it might also activate signalling pathways, in both cancer cells and tumour-associated inflammatory cells, that promote malignancy.

Inflammation is central to our fight against pathogens, but if it is not ordered and timely, the resulting chronic inflammation can contribute to diseases such as arthritis, heart attacks and Alzheimer's disease. A functional link between chronic inflammation and cancer has also long been suspected1,2: population-based studies show that susceptibility to cancer increases when tissues are chronically inflamed; and long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs reduces the risk of several cancers3. Moreover, most solid tumours contain many non-malignant cells, including immune cells and blood-vessel cells, that are important in inflammation. But the crucial molecular pathways that permit communication between abnormally growing cancer cells and these inflammatory cells remain unknown. A complex network of pro-inflammatory mediators is probably involved, because deletion of certain key molecules can reduce cancer susceptibility in mice1,2,4. Two mouse models of inflammation-associated cancer now implicate the gene-transcription factor NF-κB and the inflammatory mediator known as tumour-necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in cancer progression5,6.

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Figure 1: Opposing effects of the NF-κB protein in normal tissues and in cancer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Research UK Translational Oncology Laboratory, Barts and The London Queen Mary's Medical School, Charterhouse Square, London, EC1M 6BQ, UK

    Fran Balkwill

  2. frances.balkwill@cancer.org.uk,

    Fran Balkwill

  3. the Department of Pathology and Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Cancer Research Institute, University of California at San Francisco, 2340 Sutter Street, San Francisco, 94143, California, USA

    Lisa M. Coussens

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  1. Fran Balkwill
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  2. Lisa M. Coussens
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Balkwill, F., Coussens, L. An inflammatory link. Nature 431, 405–406 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/431405a

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