Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia 2014 Annual Scientific Meeting

Cancer and inflammation (#51)

Connie I. Diakos 1 , Stephen Clarke 1 , Janette Vardy 2 , Kellie Charles 3 , Donald McMillan 4 , Paul Horgan 4
  1. Kolling Institute of Medical Research, St Leonards, NSW, Australia
  2. Medical Oncology, Concord Repatriation General Hospital, Concord, NSW, Australia
  3. School of Pharmacology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  4. Academic Unit of Surgery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Inflammation is a cardinal feature of malignancy, contributing to the development of cancers, frequently in response to an external pathogen or autoimmune disease. 1 2 Inflammatory symptoms such as fevers, sweats and weight loss occur commonly in established cancers and have been associated with worse clinical outcomes, including earlier cancer recurrence and reduced cancer-specific survival in a number of malignancies.3 4 Inflammation has also been shown to result in slower clearance of anti-cancer drugs and worse toxicities. 5, 6

Most, if not all, solid tumours are infiltrated with immune and inflammatory cells. The critical role of inflammation in tumorigenesis is now generally accepted with the inflammatory microenvironment recognised as an essential component of all tumours.

There are multiple different types of inflammation at play in tumorigenesis and cancer, differing by cause, mechanism, outcome and intensity.7 In this symposium, we seek to examine the pathogenic processes contributing to the development of cancer, markers of inflammation that may serve as prognostic or predictive biomarkers in cancer, implications of systemic inflammation in cancer patients, and possible interventions aimed at improving outcome by reducing inflammation.8

Program

Introduction                     Prof Stephen Clarke                        5min

Plenary talk                       Prof Donald McMillan                    20min + 4min questions

                                           The GPS and the NLR: links between the tumour and systemic inflammation

Oral Presentations           

Prof Paul Horgan                             10min + 4min questions

Surgical implications of inflammation

A/Prof Janette Vardy                       10min + 4min questions

Inflammation and cognition

Dr Connie Diakos                            10min + 4min questions

Mechanisms and markers of inflammation: miRNA, genomics, proteomics

Dr Kellie Charles                              10min + 4min questions

Therapeutic interventions

Panel Discussion              Prof Stephen Clarke                        5min

References

  1. Colotta F, Allavena P, Sica A, Garlanda C, Mantovani A. Cancer-related inflammation, the seventh hallmark of cancer: links to genetic instability. Carcinogenesis. 2009;30(7):1073-81.
  2. Hanahan D, Weinberg RA. Hallmarks of cancer: the next generation. Cell. 2011;144(5):646-74.
  3. Clarke SJ, Chua W, Moore MM, Kao SCH, Phan VH, Tan C, et al. Use of inflammatory markers to guide cancer treatment. Clin PharmacolTher. 2011;90(3):475-8.
  4. Moore MM, Chua W, Charles KA, Clarke SJ. Inflammation and cancer: causes and consequences. Clin PharmacolTher. 2010;87(4):504-8.
  5. Robertson GR, Liddle C, Clarke SJ. Inflammation and altered drug clearance in cancer: transcriptional repression of a human CYP3A4 transgene in tumour-bearing mice. Clin PharmacolTher. 2008;83(6):804-7.
  6. Kacevska M, Robertson GR, Clarke SJ, Liddle C. Inflammation and CYP3A4-mediated drug metabolism in advanced cancer: impact and implications for chemotherapeutic drug dosing. Expert Opin Drug Met. 2008;4(2):137-46.
  7. Grivennikov SI, Greten FR, Karin M. Immunity, inflammation, and cancer. Cell. 2010;140(6):883-99.
  8. Diakos CI, Charles KA, McMillan DC, Clarke SJ. Targeting cancer-related inflammation to enhance cancer treatment efficacy. Lancet Oncology. 2014:in press.