Immunosenescence and cancer
Abstract
Age is a major risk factor for solid cancers, hitherto conventionally viewed in the context of the cell biology of carcinogenesis. However, if cancers are immunogenic, the immune system could protect against tumorigenesis ("immunosurveillance"), and vaccination or other immunomodulatory treatments should be therapeutically beneficial, as has been recently dramatically documented in a fraction of patients with certain tumors responding to immune checkpoint blockade. This begs the question that if immunity decreases with age ("immunosenescence"), this may contribute to increased cancer disease in the elderly and a lower likelihood of clinical benefit from immunotherapy. This brief review weighs up the evidence for and against a negative impact of immunosenescence on cancer control.
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Memory T cells gradually accumulate with age.
“Some studies also documented that memory T cells gradually accumulate with age [66, 97–99].”
From Immunosenescence: a key player in cancer development (2020) · cites this paper as [98]
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References 34 · Cited by 140
- Authors
- Pawelec, G.
- Affiliations
- King's College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Pawelec, Graham
- ORCID
- Pawelec, Graham
- Venue
- Biogerontology
- Published
- 2017-02-20
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 717-721
- ISSN
- 1389-5729 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6768
- OpenAlex
- W2589298520
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 4
- FWCI
- 1.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Biogerontology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungs Gesellschaft (PA 361-22/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Keywords
- immunosenescence, cancer, immune surveillance, tumor immunogenicity, cancer immunotherapy, immune checkpoint blockade, aging, cancer risk
- MeSH terms
- Immunosenescence, Antineoplastic Agents, Immunological, Age Factors, Aging, Animals, Antigens, Neoplasm, Humans, Immunotherapy, Neoplasms, Risk Factors, Tumor Escape, Cancer Vaccines
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