MIT | Chronic inflammation caused by disease or exposure to dangerous
chemicals has long been linked to cancer, but exactly how this process
takes place has remained unclear.
Now, a precise mechanism by which chronic inflammation can lead to
cancer has been uncovered by researchers at MIT — a development that
could lead to improved targets for preventing future tumors.
In a paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
the researchers unveil how one of a battery of chemical warfare agents
used by the immune system to fight off infection can itself create DNA
mutations that lead to cancer.
As many as one in five cancers are believed to be caused or promoted
by inflammation. These include mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer
caused by inflammation following chronic exposure to asbestos, and colon
cancer in people with a history of inflammatory bowel disease, says
Bogdan Fedeles, a research associate in the Department of Biological
Engineering at MIT, and the paper’s lead author.
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