Chronic inflammation is a fundamental driver of cancer development, linking persistent immune activation to genomic instability, microenvironmental remodeling, and malignant transformation. In inflammation-associated malignancies such as colitis-associated cancer (CAC) and metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease-related hepatocellular carcinoma (MAFLD-HCC), sustained inflammatory signaling integrates tissue injury with oncogenic pathways to promote tumor initiation and progression. Importantly, these cancers arise through prolonged preneoplastic stages, during which dysregulated immune and inflammatory responses not only drive malignant transformation but also create opportunities for cancer prevention and early disease interception. CAC and MAFLD-HCC share convergent mechanisms, including IL-6/STAT3 and NF-κB activation, cytokine-driven survival signaling, and cooperation with genetic alterations in APC, KRAS, and TP53. A critical but often underappreciated dimension of this process is the failure of endogenous immunoregulatory systems that normally restrain excessive inflammation. Among these, the negative regulator of immune cells TIPE2 plays an important role in limiting inflammatory signaling, and its reduced activity contributes to the persistence of a tumor-promoting inflammatory microenvironment that supports both disease initiation and progression. This review synthesizes the shared inflammatory, immunologic, and microenvironmental mechanisms underpinning CAC and MAFLD-HCC, with a particular emphasis on how impaired immune regulation drives the transition from chronic inflammation to cancer. We further highlight therapeutic and preventive strategies targeting inflammation-driven pathways, underscoring the dual relevance of immune modulation for cancer prevention in chronic inflammatory disease and for the treatment of established malignancy.
Rabiu et al. (2026) studied this question.