Regulation of proliferation, apoptosis and cell cycle in gastrointestinal disorders.

Carcinogenesis is a multifactorial process representing the accumulation of acquired and genetic defects, and it has become apparent that many gastrointestinal cancers originate from a state of chronic inflammation. Advances in the field of inflammation-induced carcinogenesis over the past several years have focused on the creation of agonists or antagonists of cytokines and pathways regulating proliferation and apoptosis, and include advances such as the discovery of pharmacological inhibitors of the histone deacetylase (HDAC) family of transcriptional co-repressors, which induce apoptosis of neoplastic cells; discovery of natural products, such as curcumin, which have been shown to regulate cytokine expression; and further investigation into the role of annexin A1, a downstream mediator of glucocorticoid action, in the regulation of inflammation, to name a few.