[The role of immunosurveillance and immunoediting in hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes].

Abstract

Immunosurveillance is the ability of the immune system to detect preneoplastic lesions as well as primary tumors. Immunoediting, on the other hand, includes all tumor-immune interactions and can be subdivided into three steps according to the outcome. During elimination, which can correspond to immunosurveillance, the immune system is able to eradicate immunogenic preneoplastic lesions or tumors. During the second step, the so-called equilibrium, tumors start to leverage mechanisms for immune evasion, however their growth is still controlled by the immune system. The ability of cancers to master their immune evasion efforts leads to the third step, called escape, when tumors are no longer successfully controlled by anti-tumor immunity. Hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes elevate cancer risk in a gene- and organ-specific manner. Lately, new results were uncovered regarding carcinogenic steps and pre-cancer immunity in the case of Lynch syndrome and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome, the two most frequently diagnosed cancer perdisposition syndromes. Our current review aims to summarize these novel results.