Inflammation and cancer: tissue regeneration gone awry

Abstract

Unresolved chronic inflammation is implicated in all stages of cancer development and an inflammatory tumor microenvironment is considered a hallmark of cancer. Signaling pathways involved in normal tissue regeneration and repair are dysregulated both in chronic inflammation and cancer. Here, we review some of the recently identified signaling cascades and unexpected functions of stromal cells that affect both tissue regeneration and tumorigenesis in colon and pancreatic cancer, which may pave the way for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.