title: [Parasites and cancer: is there a causal link?]
abstract: Over 20 % of cancers have infectious origins, including well-known examples of microbes such as viruses (HPV, EBV) and bacteria (H. pylori). The contribution of intracellular eukaryotic parasites to cancer etiology is largely unexplored. Epidemiological and clinical reports indicate that eukaryotic protozoan, such as intracellular apicomplexan that cause diseases of medical or economic importance, can be linked to various cancers: Theileria and Cryptosporidium induce host cell transformation while Plasmodium was linked epidemiologically to the "African lymphoma belt" over fifty years ago. These intracellular eukaryotic parasites hijack cellular pathways to manipulate the host cell epigenome, cellular machinery, signaling pathways and epigenetic programs and marks, such as methylation and acetylation, for their own benefit. In doing so, they tinker with the same pathways as those deregulated during cancer onset. Here we discuss how epidemiological evidence linking eukaryotic intracellular parasites to cancer onset are further strengthened by recent mechanistic studies in three apicomplexan parasites.
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Paris Cité, Epigenetics and cell fate, UMR7216 CNRS, université Paris Diderot, 35, rue Hélène Brion, 75013 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheeseman
authors.affiliation: Université Lille, CNRS, Inserm, CHU Lille, institut Pasteur de Lille, U1019 - UMR 8204 - CIIL - centre d'infection et d'immunité de Lille, Lille, France - Faculté de médicine et de maïeutique, université catholique de Lille, Lille, France.
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Certad
authors.affiliation: Sorbonne Paris Cité, Epigenetics and cell fate, UMR7216 CNRS, université Paris Diderot, 35, rue Hélène Brion, 75013 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Jonathan B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Weitzman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications; D002051:Burkitt Lymphoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D016785:Cryptosporidium parvum; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D006801:Humans; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000453:epidemiology; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D010272:Parasitic Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D010963:Plasmodium falciparum; D016796:Theileria annulata; D016797:Theileria parva; D013801:Theileriasis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000150:complications