BASIC SCIENCE OF CANCER FOCUS GROUPS

INFLAMMATION, INFECTION AND CANCER

SUMMARY

The Inflammation, Infection and Cancer focus group includes investigators with interest in innate immune signaling pathways that are activated during bacterial and viral infection leading to inflammatory response. Human Toll-like receptors (TLRs) function as key components in the generation of immune and inflammatory responses due to their ability to recognize pathogen-associated molecules. The activation of TLRs leads to the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which further up-regulate the expression of inflammatory genes at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels on various target cells. While the TLR- and cytokine-mediated inflammatory response is critical for innate immunity and host defense against infections, uncontrolled inflammation is detrimental to the host, leading to chronic inflammatory diseases. It is now commonly believed that chronic inflammation process contributes to tumor promotion and progression. Thus, the group aims to obtain new insight about TLR- and cytokine-mediated regulatory mechanisms to limit the production of harmful toxins, resulting in resolution of the inflammatory diseases.

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