Cancer microenvironment and inflammation: role of hyaluronan.
The role of inflammation in the development of cancer was described as early as the nineteenth century. Abundant evidence supports the preposition that various cancers are triggered by infection and chronic inflammatory disease whereas, evading immune destruction has been proposed as one of the new "hallmarks of cancer." Changes of the tumor microenvironment have been closely correlated to cancer-mediated inflammation. Hyaluronan (HA), an important extracellular matrices component, has become recognized as an active participant in inflammatory, angiogenic, fibrotic, and cancer promoting processes. This review discusses how HA and specific HA-binding proteins participate in and regulate cancer-related inflammatory processes.
School of Medicine, University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
Dragana
D
Nikitovic
School of Medicine, University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
Maria
M
Tzardi
School of Medicine, University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
Aikaterini
A
Berdiaki
School of Medicine, University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
Aristidis
A
Tsatsakis
School of Medicine, University of Crete , Heraklion , Greece.
George N
GN
Tzanakakis
CD44; RHAMM; cancer microenvironment; hyaluronan; inflammation