ALB and cancer: In the process of cancer-related systemic inflammation, tumor cells and immune cells release a variety of cytokines and growth factors (e.g., interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor), which modulate the production of albumin and also facilitate tumor progression, subversion of the host immune response, and resistance to cytotoxic drugs [9, 17, 25–28].