The evolving paradigm, suggesting the existence of an intricate link connecting inflammatory processes with oncogenesis, finds its roots all the way back into the nineteenth century. Rudolf Virchow, one of the most prominent German physicians of his time, was the first to uncover almost 150 years ago the presence of white blood cells in tumor specimens. This observation led Virchow to suggest – largely intuitively – that carcinogenesis could occur at sites of chronic inflammation, and that a set of secreted factors produced by inflamed tissues supports neoplastic growth while helping the tumor to escape the immune system surveillance by inducing a state of so-called immunosuppression concurrently inhibiting natural elimination of malignant cells via the process currently known as apoptosis.