Inflammatory cytokines in bladder cancer

The presence of inflammatory cells and their products in the tumor microenvironment plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of a tumor. Releasing the cytokines from a host in response to infection and inflammation can inhibit tumor growth and progression. However, tumor cells can also respond to the host cytokines with increasing the growth/invasion/metastasis. Bladder cancer (BC) is one of the most common cancers in the world. The microenvironment of a bladder tumor has been indicated to be rich in growth factors/inflammatory cytokines that can induce the tumor growth/progression and also suppress the immune system. On the contrary, modulate of the cancer progression has been shown following upregulation of the cytokines‐related pathways that suggested the cytokines as potential therapeutic targets. In this study, we provide a summary of cytokines that are involved in BC formation/regression with both inflammatory and anti‐inflammatory properties. A more accurate understanding of tumor microenvironment creates favorable conditions for cytokines targeting to treat BC. Given that the bladder cancer (BC) is the most expensive cancer for treatment and necessity for finding new therapeutic agents, inflammatory factor in the tumor microenvironment and targeting cytokines signaling possibly can open a novel and effective therapeutic strategy to prevent the formation, progression, metastasis, and recurrence of BC. In this review, we provide a summary of cytokines that are involved in BC formation/regression with both inflammatory and anti‐inflammatory properties.