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Cancer-related Inflammation: The Seventh Hallmark of Cancer

From the Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano, Milan, Italy and Dipartimento di Medicina Traslazionale, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy

Authors’ disclosures of potential conflicts of interest are found at the end of this article.

*Supported by AIRC - Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Fondazione CARIPLO, Italian Ministry of Health and Italian Ministry of University and Research.

Address reprint requests to Alberto Mantovani, MD, Istituto Clinico Humanitas IRCCS, via Manzoni 56, 20089 Rozzano, Milan, Italy; e-mail: alberto.mantovani{at}humanitas.it

Overview: 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. Schematically, an intrinsic (driven by genetic events that cause neoplasia) and an extrinsic (driven by inflammatory conditions which predispose to cancer) pathway link inflammation and cancer. Smoldering inflammation in the tumor microenvironment contributes to proliferation and survival of malignant cells, angiogenesis, metastasis, subversion of adaptive immunity, response to hormones, and chemotherapeutic agents. As such, cancer-related inflammation (CRI) represents a target for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. We surmise that CRI represents the seventh hallmark of cancer.