Improvement of the early diagnosis of cancer in primary care

Abstract

Inflammation plays a major role in preserving physiological homeostasis of an organism and is initiated when pathogens, bacteria, viruses, etc. are presented. A low-grade inflammation can turn into a pathological state. Barriers at different sites in the body might be affected and can cause spread of inflammatory substances affecting other network-linked gap junction cells in other organs, which can give rise to systemic inflammation. A consequence of inflammatory signalling is mucosal inflammation in the gut, airway, pancreas epithelium, renal tubular, retinal epithelial cells etc. Coexisting diseases, comorbidity, might be a consequence with barriers not working in a proper way. Metabolic disturbances can induce low-grade inflammation in all metabolically active organs such as the liver, adipose tissue and heart. Low-grade inflammation can occur in any organ which causes damage to barriers. This in turn, can lead to comorbidity which can cause systemic inflammation. The barriers can resist acute inflammation, while prolonged inflammation and oxidative stress may lead to systemic inflammation affecting the nervous system and retina, cartilage, blood vessels, and nerve endings. It is of great importance to understand the different barriers, their functionality and how they act. Although there are still many unsolved questions, understanding why some people are more affected by diseases than others, remains of critical importance. Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020. It is now known that only 5–10% of all cancers are due to an inherited gene defect, and the remaining 90–95% have their roots in an environment and lifestyle that are intimately related with chronic inflammation. Therefore, rather than the dogma that oncogenesis is intrinsically triggered in pre-neoplastic cells, environmental factors, such as infection, stress, obesity, aging and smoking, each of which can induce chronic inflammation, could be a major cause of oncogenesis.

Keywords

Saliva, biomarkers, diseases, disorders, cancer, techniques