Bridging the Gap: A Regulator of NF-κB Linking Inflammation and Cancer

A close connection between inflammation and cancer has now been firmly established. While tumor initiation is typically independent of inflammatory events, immune cells infiltrating the tumor microenvironment secrete inflammatory cytokines that enhance the aberrant growth of tumor cells and thus facilitate tumor progression. Therefore, inflammation and tumor growth are usually interpreted as closely related on a systemic level but as distinct, independently regulated processes at a molecular level.

Recently, we reported that a sub-class of small GTPases, namely κB-Ras1 and κB-Ras2, regulate both inflammation and tumor growth, thereby providing a unique molecular bridge between the two biological processes.

Here, we briefly summarize the known contact points between inflammation and cancer, including oral cancers, and put into context the identification of κB-Ras proteins as molecular link between two independent pathways important for tumor growth.