Reactive Oxygen Species Bridge the Gap between Chronic Inflammation and Tumor Development

Figure 2

Cross-talk between ROS signaling and inflammatory responses. Activation of inflammatory cells results in the production of primary ROS, which contributes to the accumulation of primary cytokines by activating inflammatory transcriptional factors. In turn, primary cytokines also stimulate inflammatory cells to generate secondary ROS, leading to the further release of secondary cytokines. Once intercellular ROS reach a toxic threshold, they can induce necrotic and apoptotic cell death, ultimately causing the recruitment of more inflammatory cells.