Inflammation and de-differentiation in pancreatic carcinogenesis

Figure 1 Inflammation induces carcinogenesis both cell-autonomously and non-cell-autonomously. DNA damage caused by inflammation contributes to mutagenesis. Nuclear factor κB and KRAS activate each other and sustained KRAS activity promotes carcinogenesis. Macrophage-secreted cytokines activate the ERK and STAT3 signaling pathways in epithelial cells. Inflammasomes inactivate cytotoxic T cells via the activation of Th17 and regulatory T cells. NF-κB: Nuclear factor κB.