Inflammation: what role in pediatric cancer?

There is growing evidence for the importance of chronic inflammation in the pathogenesis of adult cancers and for an ongoing role of the inflammatory response in tumor growth and metastasis. Here, we examine how these processes relate to pediatric malignancies. While it is unlikely that chronic inflammation plays a significant role in driving malignant progression in childhood tumors that typically have developmental origins, the inflammatory response does appear to play an important role in the development and progression of many types of childhood cancer. An enhanced understanding of these processes will be of critical importance in developing novel therapeutic strategies.
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