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. 2021 Nov 8;10(11):3077. doi: 10.3390/cells10113077

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© 2021 by the authors.

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Risk factors of cancer. There are several risk factors for cancer. Obesity (IL-1β, TAN, PSC, desmoplasia), diabetes mellitus (IGF-1, p38 MAPK, IL-6, TNF-β, VEGF, and NF-κB), and genetics (mutations in K-ras, BRCA2, and STK11) are biological risk factors for cancer. Toxic chemicals (chlorinated hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), alcohol abuse (acetaldehyde, ROS, ADH1, and ALDH2), and smoking (nicotine, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, lead, arsenic, ammonia, benzene, carbon monoxide, nitrosamines, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), are external or environmental risk factors of cancer. Smoking is known as a strong carcinogen in many cancers. Most cancer cases are attributed to environmental factors but a small percentage are involved in gene mutations and hereditary traces. Peutz–Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is caused by mutations in the tumor suppressor STK11 gene.