Cancer: these inflammatory cells that worsen the prognosis of patients

With age, mutations tend to accumulate in the DNA of our cells. These molecular abnormalities are easily detected in the cells that circulate in our blood, the hematopoietic cells, which are produced in the bone marrow.

"At 60, 5% of individuals carry such age-related mutations in their blood cells. At 80, this rate rises to 15%," explains Elsa Bernard, a computational oncology researcher at the Gustave-Roussy Institute in Villejuif (Val-de-Marne). "These mutations in our blood cells have been known for a long time and are one of the hallmarks of aging ," adds Professor Jean-Yves Blay, an oncologist and director general of the Léon-Bérard cancer center in Lyon. "In rare cases, they can trigger blood cancers." Fortunately, this risk remains low. "In 1% of people carrying these mutations, the risk of developing leukemia within ten years is 50%," says Elsa Bernard.

Another well-known observation: regardless of age, 25% of people with solid tumors have these age-related mutations in their blood cells. This phenomenon is associated with a poorer prognosis .

You have 73.46% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.