Targeting Inflammatory Pathways in Cancer: Novel Insights into Tumorigenesis and Personalized Therapeutic Approaches

• G.R. Nivashini

  Department of Radiology, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences (SI MATS), Saveetha University, Chennai 602105; Tamil Nadu, India

• Lalatendu Moharana

  Department of Onco-Medicine, IMS and SUM Hospital, Siksha' O' Anusandhan (Deemed to be University), Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India

• Ashish Jawarkar

  Department of Pathology, Parul Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Parul University, Vadodara, Gujarat, India

• Komal Parashar

  Centre of Research Impact and Outcome, Chitkara University, Rajpura- 140417, Punjab, India

• Tarun Parashar

  School of Pharmacy & Research, Dev Bhoomi Uttarakhand University, Dehradun, India

• Dinesh Kumar Yadav

  Department of Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, SGT University, Gurugram, Haryana, India

A characteristic feature of cancer is chronic inflammation, which leads to tumor formation, development, and metastasis. NF-KB, STAT3, COX-2, and IL-6/IL-1b inflammatory signaling pathways are important in regulating the tumor microenvironment through cell proliferation, survival, angiogenesis, and immune evasion. When constantly activated, these pathways result in genomic instability and epigenetic alterations, which provide a favorable condition of malignant transformation. These inflammatory pathways are regularly usurped by oncogenes to stimulate tumor growth and survival. Recent research has been aimed at attacking key inflammatory mediators, including cytokines, transcription factors, and upstream kinases. Anti-inflammatory drugs, such as selective JAK/STAT, IKK, and COX-2, have a great promise as therapeutic agents. As an example, the volume of tumors in pre-clinical models has been reduced by 40% with treatment using JAK/STAT inhibitors and morbidity by 30% with COX-2 inhibition in patients with high-risk colorectal cancer. Nonetheless, the difficulty appears to be balancing specificity with low side effects because of the pivotal functions that these pathways participate in in the normal immune system operation. This essay examines the mechanistic connections between tumors and inflammation, and new findings in personalized therapy by targeting these mechanisms. Through profiling of inflammatory biomarkers, this review highlights how precision medicine can improve treatment outcomes and tackle cancer heterogeneity providing new opportunities to achieve better and more targeted treatment.

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