The use of anti-inflammatory agents for cancer chemoprevention

Abstract

Over 150 years have passed since the link between inflammation and cancer was first hypothesized, and this relationship is now widely accepted. Inflammation has been described as an important player in all stages in the process of carcinogenesis, and anti-inflammatory drugs have consistently demonstrated cancer chemopreventive activity in various animal models. Considering the global cancer burden and the difficulty to treat most cancers, the development of such a preventive strategy using readily available anti-inflammatory drugs is highly appealing. However, most existing anti-inflammatory drugs come with serious side effects (gastrointestinal bleeding for NSAIDs, cardiotoxicity for COX-2 inhibitors) that would hamper their long-term use in large populations at risk of cancer development. In this context, important efforts have been made by both academia and industry to discover new potent and safe anti-inflammatory compounds with cancer chemopreventive properties. Natural reservoirs are of high interest in support of this prospect, owing to their richness and the chemical diversity they offer. The present chapter recapitulates the main preclinical and clinical advances on the search for anti-inflammatory cancer chemopreventive compounds.