Inflammatory bowel disease: a model of chronic inflammation-induced cancer

Chronic inflammation is a well-recognized risk factor for the development of human cancer. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is a typical longstanding inflammatory disease of the colon with increased risk for the development of colorectal carcinoma. Several molecular events involved in chronic inflammatory process may contribute to multistage progression of human cancer development, including the overproduction of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, overproduction/activation of key arachidonic acid metabolites and cytokines/growth factors, and immunity system dysfunction. Multiple animal models of IBD have been established, and in general, these models can be mainly categorized into chemically induced, genetically engineered (transgenic or gene knock-out), spontaneous, and adoptive transferring animal models. This chapter mainly focuses on (1) epidemiologic and molecular evidence on IBD and risk of colorectal cancer, (2) molecular pathogenesis of IBD-induced carcinogenesis, and (3) modeling of IBD-induced carcinogenesis in rodents and its application.