Role of inflammation in mouse lung tumorigenesis: a review

Peritumoral and intratumoral macrophages are associated with human and mouse lung cancer The mouse model allows manipulation of the macrophage population to experimentally evaluate its contribution to tumor growth. Genetic and pharmacologic strategies also permit testing the invol vement of specific inflammatory mediators in tumor progression. Among those endogenous mediators thus identified are interleukin (IL)-10, glucocorticoids, prostacyclin, nitric oxide, and surfactant apoprotein D (SP-D); serum SP-D levels are a useful biomarker to monitor tumor growth rate. The importance of understanding the mutually antagonistic roles of individual prostaglandins downstream from cycloxygenase (COX) and how this affects the efficacy of COX-inhibitory drugs is discussed. Promising drug candidates include synthetic glucocorticoids such as budesonide and the sulfone derivative of sulindac, apotosyn.