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Review
. 2021 Jan 8;10(1):100.
doi: 10.3390/cells10010100.

Inflammatory Cytokines in Cancer: Comprehensive Understanding and Clinical Progress in Gene Therapy

Tianxia Lan  1   2 , Li Chen  1   2 , Xiawei Wei  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Inflammatory Cytokines in Cancer: Comprehensive Understanding and Clinical Progress in Gene Therapy

Tianxia Lan et al. Cells. .

Abstract

The relationship between chronic inflammation and neoplastic diseases is not fully understood. The inflammatory microenvironment of a tumor is an intricate network that consists of numerous types of cells, cytokines, enzymes and signaling pathways. Recent evidence shows that the crucial components of cancer-related inflammation are involved in a coordinated system to influence the development of cancer, which may shed light on the development of potential anticancer therapies. Since the last century, considerable effort has been devoted to developing gene therapies for life-threatening diseases. When it comes to modulating the inflammatory microenvironment for cancer therapy, inflammatory cytokines are the most efficient targets. In this manuscript, we provide a comprehensive review of the relationship between inflammation and cancer development, especially focusing on inflammatory cytokines. We also summarize the clinical trials for gene therapy targeting inflammatory cytokines for cancer treatment. Future perspectives concerned with new gene-editing technology and novel gene delivery systems are finally provided.

Keywords: cancer therapy; cytokine; gene therapy; inflammation; tumor microenvironment.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Critical inflammatory mediators in the tumor microenvironment.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Clinical progress on inflammatory cytokine gene therapies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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