Inflammation, immunosuppressive microenvironment and breast cancer: opportunities for cancer prevention and therapy

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and a leading cause of cancerrelated death in women worldwide. It also exhibits pronounced racial disparities in terms of incidence and clinical outcomes. There has been a growing interest in research community to better understand the role of the microenvironment in cancer. Several lines of evidence have highlighted the significance of chronic inflammation at the local and/or systemic level in breast tumor pathobiology. Inflammation can influence breast cancer progression, metastasis and therapeutic outcome by establishing a tumor supportive immune microenvironment. These processes are mediated through a variety of cytokines and hormones that exert their biological actions either locally or distantly via systemic circulation. Targeting of immune and inflammatory pathways has met tremendous success in some cancers underscoring the importance of research to further our understanding of these systems in breast cancer. This knowledge can be helpful not only in the development of novel prevention and therapeutic strategies, but also help in better prediction of therapeutic responses in patients. This review summarizes some of the significant findings on the role of inflammation in breast cancer to gain collective molecular and mechanistic insights. We also discuss ongoing efforts and future outlook to exploit the existing knowledge for improved breast cancer management.

Glasgow prognostic score is a better predictor of the long-term survival in patients with gastric cancer, compared to the modified Glasgow prognostic score or high-sensitivity modified Glasgow prognostic score

“…Cancer-related inflammation leads to alteration of the tumor microenvironment and contributes to the promotion of cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and metastatic spread, and the inhibition of apoptosis and immunosuppression [16,17]. Moreover, increasing evidence suggests that inflammation plays a role in cancer development and may also be accelerated by the cancer itself due to increased catabolism and malnutrition [18,19].…”

Identification of biomarkers predicting the chemotherapeutic outcomes of capecitabine and oxaliplatin in patients with gastric cancer

“…CASP5 is an inflammatory caspase that serves a role in the immune system ( 27 – 29 ). Inflammation and cancer development are closely associated and a distinct inflammatory environment often exists within tumors ( 27 ). Multiple CASPs are abnormally expressed in GC and associated with the survival rates of GC ( 28 ).…”

Identification of key pathways and genes shared between Crohn's disease and breast cancer using bioinformatics analysis

“…Taken together, the results of the present study demonstrated that a series of inflammatory proteins (such as CXCL8, IL1β and PTGS2) overexpressed by peripheral blood cells may increase systemic inflammation in female patients with CD ( 45 ). Systemic inflammation can affect tumorigenesis and progression in breast cancer by establishing a tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) ( 46 ).…”