Abstract B25: Inflammation and cancer: standardizing biomarkers criteria (data elements) as foundation of a database. M-CSF used as prototype to test data elements
Authors: Khatami Mahin 
Published: January 2014

Lack of better understanding, whether inflammation is protective in preventing cancer or it is a cause for promoting cancer, reflected by continuous controversies and debates has significantly slowed down progress in preventing or treating cancer and many age-associated chronic diseases. Consequently, too many expensive and out of focus clinical trials that use potent pro-inflammatory mediators or inhibitors of growth factors (wound healing or tumorigenic) have caused life threatening side-effects such as cachexia, thrombosis, or drug-resistance and cancer-relapse resulting multiple organ failure (MOF) in cancer patients. Such approaches in ‘targeted’ or ‘personalized’ medicine for site-specific cancers that often result in MOF are similar to clinical features of potent pathogens-induced severe inflammatory diseases and MOF in sepsis or meningitis.

In 1980's the results of our ‘accidental’ discoveries on experimental models of acute and chronic ocular inflammatory diseases are suggestive of the first evidence for a direct link between inflammation and tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. Analyses of data led to a first publication on inflammation-induced time course kinetics of developmental phases of immune dysfunction that resulted in neovascularzation, tumor growth and angiogenesis in conjunctival-associated lymphoid tissues (1984, 85, 88, 89, 90 a, b, 2005 a, b).

Recently, acute inflammation was defined as highly regulated immune responses possessing 2 biologically opposing arms, termed ‘Yin’ (apoptosis or tumoricidal) and ‘Yang’ (wound healing or tumorigenic), capable of precise communications between immune and non-immune systems (e.g., neuroendocrine, vasculature) to protect the body against external and internal foreign elements including killing of cancer cells (cancer or immune surveillance). Unresolved inflammation was proposed as the loss of balance between ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’ that could lead to expression of exaggerated and mismatched mediators creating immunological chaos or ‘immune tsunami’, and eroding architectural integrity and function of target tissues as the basis for induction and progression of chronic diseases or cancer.

This presentation focuses on extension and integration of our ground breaking multidisciplinary data with emphasis on standardizing cancer biomarkers criteria through identifying data elements for nearly all cancer markers as a foundation of a cancer biomarkers database (2005 c). An inflammatory mediator (M-CSF) is used as prototype to tailor data elements (e.g., comparison of its superior sensitivity and specificity with conventional markers such as CA-125) as potential marker for technology development and diagnostic tools. A framework for design of clinical studies will be presented based on hypotheses that: a) Inflammatory mediators are ideal targets for diagnosis and treatment of cancer; b) Inflammation is a common denominator in the genesis of age-associated chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular complications or cancer; and c) maintenance of balance between ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang’ of acute inflammation is a key for preventing, avoiding or delaying the onset of age-associated chronic diseases or cancer (1999, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012).

Citation Format: Mahin Khatami. Inflammation and cancer: Standardizing biomarkers criteria (data elements) as foundation of a database. M-CSF used as prototype to test data elements. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B25.