Emerging avenues linking inflammation and cancer

► Inflammation perturbs cellular redox homeostasis and promotes neoplastic transformation. ► The tumor microenvironment often maintains an inflammatory state that hastens tumor progression. ► Inflammatory mediators induce genomic instability and impair DNA repair mechanisms. ► Inflammation causes epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and accelerates metastasis. ► Inflammation disrupts epigenetic control of gene expression and favors tumor growth.