How does inflammation contribute to cancer?
In: Biology
The cause of chronic inflammation may involve substances that promote DNA damage. Longer exposure increases the risk of mutations. There is also the fact that inflammation often promotes cell proliferation and turnover, increasing the chance of a mistake being made and a cancer cell forming. Also, a lot of mutations associated with cancer actually use chemicals released in inflammation (cytokines) to their advantage and it can help them to grow, reproduce and metastasize.
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