Increased pro-inflammatory mediators leads to N/A, Breast Cancer

Uncertainty arises from the multifunctional nature of TGF-β, which may be anti- or pro-carcinogenic based on context, and around the contribution of inflammatory macrophages, which can differ based on genetic background. Further research is needed to isolate and identify the critical factors in these responses and their application in mammary gland.

TGF-β can be protective in a developmental context but may increase risk in another context. Increased baseline TGF-β decreases tumor incidence following lower doses of IR (0.1 Gy) in the SPRET outbred mouse, possibly by reducing ductal branching during development and subsequent susceptibility (Zhang, Lo et al. 2015). Conversely, the BALB/c mouse has lower baseline TGF-β during development but is susceptible to mammary tumors after IR, possibly via an elevated TGF-β response to IR. Early (4 hours) after low dose (0.075 Gy) IR these mice have suppressed immune pathways and macrophage response but increased IL6, COX2, and TGF-β pathway activation in mammary gland compared to the tumor-resistant C57BL/6 mouse (Snijders, Marchetti et al. 2012; Bouchard, Bouvette et al. 2013). By 1 week after IR BALB/c mammary glands show TGF-β-dependent inflammation, and by 1 month after IR they show proliferation (Nguyen, Martinez-Ruiz et al. 2011; Snijders, Marchetti et al. 2012). Consistent with this pattern, BALB/c mice that are heterozygous for TGF-β are more resistant to mammary tumorigenesis following IR (Nguyen, Oketch-Rabah et al. 2011). This pattern suggests that TGF-β is associated with inflammation, proliferation, and mammary tumorigenesis in these mice. However, the BALB/c mouse also has a polymorphism in a DNA repair gene associated with IR-induced genomic instability (Yu, Okayasu et al. 2001), making it difficult to distinguish potentially overlapping mechanisms.

Genetically susceptible mouse models offer somewhat conflicting information about the contribution of inflammation to cancer. In the CBA/Ca mouse susceptible to leukemia the macrophage response to IR is pro-inflammatory (M1 type) in contrast to the mammary tumor resistant C57BL/6 mouse, which develops anti-inflammatory M2type pro-phagocytic oxidative macrophages that target apoptotic cells (Lorimore, Coates et al. 2001; Lorimore, Chrystal et al. 2008). In contrast, in the BALB/c mouse susceptible to mammary tumors many inflammatory pathways and macrophages are suppressed early after IR, although there is also evidence of inflammation especially at later points (Nguyen, Martinez-Ruiz et al. 2011; Snijders, Marchetti et al. 2012; Bouchard, Bouvette et al. 2013).  It is possible that the two carcinogenic models represent two different mechanisms of susceptibility.

Finally, inflammation and other stromal factors alone are not sufficient to produce breast cancer. Studies in mice that support the importance of stromal context to IR tumorigenesis used epithelial cells with mutations in a DNA damage response gene p53. These transplant studies irradiate a mammary gland fat pad with epithelial cells removed, and transplant non-irradiated pre-malignant mutant (typically p53 mutant) epithelial cells (Barcellos-Hoff and Ravani 2000; Nguyen, Oketch-Rabah et al. 2011). Similar experiments showing NMU-treated stromal promotion of tumorigenesis use untreated primary epithelial cells sub-cultured repeatedly in vitro where some initiation could have taken place (Maffini, Soto et al. 2004), while in a similar experiment DMBA-treated stroma does not cause tumors from transplanted pre-malignant immortal cells (Medina and Kittrell 2005). This dependence on both stromal context and mutations to DNA damage response is consistent with contemporary ideas about the multi-factorial nature of carcinogenesis.