title: Interactions between immune challenges and cancer cells proliferation: timing does matter!
abstract: The immune system is a key component of malignant cell control and it is also involved in the elimination of pathogens that threaten the host. Despite our body is permanently exposed to a myriad of pathogens, the interference of such infections with the immune responses against cancer has been poorly investigated. Through a mathematical model, we show that the frequency, the duration and the action (positive or negative) of immune challenges may significantly impact tumor proliferation. First, we observe that a long immunosuppressive challenge increases accumulation of cancerous cells only if it occurs 14 years after the beginning of immunosenescence. However, short immune challenges result in an even greater accumulation of cancerous cells for the same total duration of immunosuppression. Finally, we show that short challenges of immune activation could lead to a slightly decrease in cancerous cell accumulation compared to a long one. Our results predict that frequent and acute immune challenges could have a different and in some extent higher impact on cancer risk than persistent ones even they have been much less studied in cancer epidemiology. These results are discussed regarding the existing empirical evidences and we suggest potential novel indirect role of infectious diseases on cancer incidence which should be investigated to improve prevention strategies against cancer.
authors.affiliation: CREEC, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, Montpellier, Cedex 5 34394, France MIVEGEC, UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, Montpellier, Cedex 5 34394, France camille.jacqueline@ird.fr.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jacqueline
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Jacques-Louis Lions (LJLL), UMR 7598 Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris 6, Boîte courrier 187, ;Paris, Cedex 05 75252, France Université Cadi Ayyad Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Dynamique de Populations, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco.
authors.forename: Youssef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bourfia
authors.affiliation: Université Cadi Ayyad Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Dynamique de Populations, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco International Center for Mathematical and Computational Modeling of Complex Systems (UMI IRD/UPMC UMMISCO), 32 Avenue Henri Varagnat, Bondy Cedex 93143, France.
authors.forename: Hassan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hbid
authors.affiliation: BiogéoSciences, CNRS UMR 6282, Université de Bourgogne, 6 Boulevard Gabriel, Dijon 21000, France.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sorci
authors.affiliation: CREEC, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, Montpellier, Cedex 5 34394, France MIVEGEC, UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, Montpellier, Cedex 5 34394, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: CREEC, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, Montpellier, Cedex 5 34394, France International Center for Mathematical and Computational Modeling of Complex Systems (UMI IRD/UPMC UMMISCO), 32 Avenue Henri Varagnat, Bondy Cedex 93143, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Roche
keywords: cancer; immunosenescence; immunosuppression; infectious diseases