Overcoming cancer risk in inflammatory bowel disease: new insights into preventive strategies and pathogenesis mechanisms including interactions of immune cells, cancer signaling pathways, and gut microbiota

Haonan Zhang; Yulu Shi; Chanchan Lin; Chengcheng He; Shanping Wang; Qingyuan Li; Yan Sun; Mingsong Li

doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1338918

Overcoming cancer risk in inflammatory bowel disease: new insights into preventive strategies and pathogenesis mechanisms including interactions of immune cells, cancer signaling pathways, and gut microbiota

Front Immunol. 2024 Jan 15:14:1338918. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1338918. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Haonan Zhang¹, Yulu Shi², Chanchan Lin³, Chengcheng He¹, Shanping Wang¹, Qingyuan Li⁴, Yan Sun¹, Mingsong Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Research Center, Department of Gastroenterology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Major Obstetric Diseases, Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Oncology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, Quanzhou, Fujian, China.
⁴ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology, Department of Gastroenterology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), characterized primarily by gastrointestinal inflammation, predominantly manifests as Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). It is acknowledged that Inflammation plays a significant role in cancer development and patients with IBD have an increased risk of various cancers. The progression from inflammation to carcinogenesis in IBD is a result of the interplay between immune cells, gut microbiota, and carcinogenic signaling pathways in epithelial cells. Long-term chronic inflammation can lead to the accumulation of mutations in epithelial cells and the abnormal activation of carcinogenic signaling pathways. Furthermore, Immune cells play a pivotal role in both the acute and chronic phases of IBD, contributing to the transformation from inflammation to tumorigenesis. And patients with IBD frequently exhibit dysbiosis of the intestinal microbiome. Disruption of the gut microbiota and subsequent immune dysregulation are central to the pathogenesis of both IBD and colitis associated colorectal cancer (CAC). The proactive management of inflammation combined with regular endoscopic and tumor screenings represents the most direct and effective strategy to prevent the IBD-associated cancer.

Keywords: cancer prevention; cancer risk; immune cells; inflammation associated cancer; inflammatory bowel disease.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Humans
Inflammation / complications
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases* / complications
Neoplasms*
Signal Transduction

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82370529, 82203369, 82070565 and 82303391), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund (2022A1515111193), the Guangzhou Science and technology plan project (2023A04J0581).