Oral Presentation Clinical Oncology Society of Australia 2014 Annual Scientific Meeting

Therapeutic interventions for systemic inflammation to improve anti-tumour efficacy (#56)

Kellie Charles 1 2 , Connie Diakos 1 3 , Donald McMillan 4 , Stephen Clarke 1 3
  1. University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  2. Cancer Pharmacology Lab, Discipline of Pharmacology, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  3. Northern Translational Cancer Research Unit, University of Sydney, St Leonards, NSW, Australia
  4. Dept of Surgery, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

As discussed by speakers in this symposium, patients with systemic inflammation have poorer response to chemotherapy and overall survival. One of the cardinal features of cancer aggressiveness is inflammation. Inflammatory mediators, such as cytokines, chemokines, proteases and growth factors, regulate the signal transduction pathways that stimulate tumour growth, invasion and distant organ dissemination. Inflammation is also a key orchestrator of the host response to the tumour, in which the same inflammatory mediators can direct angiogenesis, acute phase response and recruitment of immune cell towards the tumour. Therefore, therapeutic intervention to reduce systemic inflammation may provide a novel strategy to improve anti-tumour efficacy. 

A variety of anti-inflammatory medications exist, ranging from low cost corticosteroids (dexamethasone), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS, aspirin and celecoxib), statins to more expensive targeted monoclonal antibodies (tocilizumab, an anti-interleukin-6 antibody, bevacuzimab, an-anti VEGF antibody)1. This presentation will discuss the evidence of a variety of therapeutic intervention strategies that may be applicable to decrease systemic inflammation and improve cancer outcomes for patients. 

References

1 C.Diakos. K.A. Charles, D.C. McMillan, S.J. Clarke(2014). Targeting Cancer-Related Inflammation to Enhance Cancer Treatment Efficacy. Lancet Oncology (in press, accepted 19.5.2014)