Immunosenescence, oxidative stress, and cancers

Abstract

The most important risk factor for cancer is age, but the details of this relationship are unclear. Statistics are clearer; cancer is one of the most devastating diseases of the elderly. Accumulating evidence points to the fact that this is a multifactorial disease in which changes in the immune system with aging may significantly contribute. Such age-related adaptations involve both the innate and adaptive arms of immunity. Collectively, aging creates a milieu favoring the deregulation of the inflammatory process. This contributes to the development and progression of cancers. Another factor, closely related to this proinflammatory process, is the overproduction of free radicals and lack of antioxidant capacities, called collectively the oxidative stress which also plays an important role in the occurrence of cancers and in their control. Controlling the inflammatory and oxidative balances in aging may be a way to improve the efficacy of cancer treatment.