A new study suggests that inflammation triggered by a protein found in many human tumors may help the tumors grow and avoid attacks by the immune system.

The protein, interleukin (IL)-23, represents an important link between inflammation and cancer, the researchers say. And it may help explain why cancers tend to occur in tissues that have been damaged by chronic inflammation.

In the study, researchers from Schering-Plough Biopharma in California found that IL-23 has an increased presence in many types of human tumors. The protein may cause inflammation around tumors that, among other things, protects them.  Read more ¹  

NCI-Frederick: Helping to Transform Cancer Research

The 10th annual Spring Research Festival on the NCI campus in Frederick, Md. (NCI-Frederick ²), kicks off later this week. The festival has become a welcome tradition and a great way for those on campus to highlight a unique component of NCI and its mission.

Approximately one-third of the laboratories of principal investigators from the Center for Cancer Research (CCR) ³ are located at NCI-Frederick. But that is just one small part of a much larger operation. Over the last 5 to 10 years, in fact, our campus has undergone a significant transformation.  Read more ⁴  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.