Thymic involution and rising disease incidence with age
Open accessAbstract
Significance: Understanding the risk factors of carcinogenesis is a major goal of biomedical research. Historically, the focus has been on the role of somatic mutations, and the reason for cancer typically occurring late in life is predominantly attributed to a gradual accumulation of such mutations. We challenge that view and propose that the decline of the immune system is the primary reason why cancer is an age-related disease. The immunological model featured here captures risk profiles for many cancer types and infectious diseases, suggesting that therapies reversing T cell exhaustion or restoring T cell production will be promising avenues of treatment.
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T cell output decline is an important feature of immunosenescence.
“T cell–output decline is an important feature of immunosenescence as well as the production of senescence-associated secretory phenotype, increased glycolysis, and reactive oxygen species.”
From Immunosenescence: a key player in cancer development (2020) · cites this paper as [24]
The immune system may play an important role in tumor development.
“By analyzing the age distributions of 100 different tumors, Palmer et al. [24] concluded that the immune system may play an important role in tumor development.”
From Immunosenescence: a key player in cancer development (2020) · cites this paper as [24]
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- Authors
- Palmer, S., Albergante, L., Blackburn, C. C., & Newman, T. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Dundee (GB)
- Inserm (FR)
- MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Palmer, Sam
- Newman, T. J.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2018-02-05
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1883-1888
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC5828591
- OpenAlex
- W2788857602
- Cited by
- 364
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 45 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 17
- FWCI
- 15.04
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Discovery Research Portal (University of Dundee) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- SULSA (U54 CA143682)
- EC | Seventh Framework Programme (602587)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › T-cell and B-cell Immunology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Artificial Immune Systems Applications
- Keywords
- thymic involution, immunosenescence, cancer incidence, infectious disease incidence, power law model, mutation accumulation, aging
- MeSH terms
- Aging, Female, Humans, Male, Models, Biological, Mutation, Neoplasms, Thymus Gland, Genetic Predisposition to Disease
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