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Ovarian cancer is recognized by the immunological system of its host. Initially, it is effective to destroy and eliminate the cancer. But gradually, resistant tumor cells more aggressive and those able to protect themselves by inducing immune tolerance will be selected. Immunotherapy to be effective should consider both components of immune response with an action on cytotoxic immune effectors and action on tolerance mechanisms. The manipulations of the immune system should be cautious, because the immune effects are not isolated. A theoretically efficient handling may simultaneously cause an adverse effect which was not envisaged and could neutralize the benefits of treatment. Knowledge of tolerance mechanisms set up by the tumor is for the clinician a prerequisite before they prescribe these treatments. For each cancer, the knowledge of its immunological status is a prerequisite to propose adapted immunological therapies., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Pregnancy is a temporary semi-allograft that survives for nine months. The importance of this event for the survival of the species justifies several tolerance mechanisms that are put into place at the beginning of pregnancy, some of which occur even at the time of implantation. The description of these mechanisms underlines the leadership of the trophoblast. The trophoblast is the conductor of the events, protects himself by expressing specific antigens and regulates the environment of the decidua according to the calendar of the events of the pregnancy The trophoblast and the decidual environment attract the effectors of immunity, almost all present in the decidua. The immunological atmosphere of the decidua evolves during the pregnancy modulating the level of activation of the immunological cells and adapting the level of activation to the stage of the pregnancy., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

During pregnancy an environment allowing installation of tolerance toward the fetus is set up locally at the materno-fetal interface. Numerous effectors of immunity are involved in this tolerance (NK cell, T cell, Macrophages, dendritic cell). Specific mechanisms during pregnancy attract locally these immunological cells. In the decidua, they are educated toward tolerance. These mechanisms evolve during the pregnancy because at the end of the pregnancy, tolerance is broken to prepare and activate the labor. Ovarian tumors, after having surmounted the immunosurveillance, like trophoblast, chair the installation of a tolerance of their host facilitating the development of the disease. The blocking of these mechanisms of tolerance coupled with activation of mechanisms of defenses offer new perspectives in the treatment of the ovarian cancer. The authors suggest showing the analogies of the tolerance observed during ovarian cancer and pregnancy. The knowledge of the orchestration of the physiological mechanisms observed during pregnancy will offer new therapeutic targets., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Pregnancy is a temporary semi-allograft that survives for nine months. The importance of this event for the survival of the species justifies several tolerance mechanisms that are put into place at the beginning of pregnancy, some of which occur even at the time of implantation. The presence of multiple tolerance mechanisms and the richness of the means employed underline the central importance of the trophoblast. Understanding these mechanisms, and in particular, their integration into an overall scheme, enables the anomalies encountered in certain pathologies of pregnancy to be placed into context. Understanding these mechanisms and their interruption at the end of pregnancy should improve our understanding of disappointing results from current immunological treatments facilitate the implementation of new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies., (Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)

Each year, 13,000 newly gynecologic cancers are diagnosed in France. Gynecologic cancers were specifically heterogeneous (localisations, histologic subgroups, age class, etc). This work was delineated for a national call dedicated to gynecologic cancers. This review reports the major needs in terms of scientific research dedicated to gynecologic cancers in the biologic, epidemiology, human and sociologic fields. For example, medico-economic strategies adapted to ethnosociologic context, specifically for cervix cancer, took important part of the epidemiologic research. Impact of gynecologic cancer in terms of symptoms and late effects, quality of life after treatments and fertility needs to be specifically explored. For fundamental research, molecular characterisation, biologic markers, impact of immunology and genetics represent the major part of the field need to be explored. Finally, therapeutic and diagnosis innovations, optimization of treatments strategies and development of predictive models in order to perform individual prediction taking into account several risk factors (clinical and molecular) to offer help in management of gynecologic cancers are required.

Within the growing field of proteomics, mass spectrometry is now established as a powerful tool for peptide and protein identification and discovery from purified samples. A new era is now beginning, with the development of MALDI imaging, maintaining the sensitivity and efficacy of both discovery and identification while additionally preserving the anatomical integrity of biomolecules like peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides and lipids within tissues. Crucial developments for sample preparations have made leaps and bounds, as it is now possible to work with freezed conserved biopsies (- 80 degrees c) of more than 6 months or even conserved after paraformaldehyde fixation and paraffin embedding. The latter development has opened the door to archived tissues in hospital libraries and biomarkers hunting from tissues derived from these libraries are now a key objective. The relationship between MALDI imaging and immunocytochemistry used by the pathologist is important. The development of specific MALDI imaging using probes with a tag (peptide or organic) called << Tag-Mass >> adds a whole new perspective. It is possible henceforth to localize a protein with its specific mRNA and more specifically, with its signalling pathway on the same sections or within a pathology expression phenotype from a biopsy. Development of such a technology is similar to the one that occurred several years ago for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) that leads the development of imaging technologies called MRI in hospital which is intensively used for pathology diagnostics.

The term neuroendocrine has been used to define cells that secrete their products in a regulated manner, in response to a specific stimulus. The neuroendocrine system includes neurons and endocrine cells sharing a common phenotypic program characterized by the expression of markers such as neuropeptides, chromogranins, neuropeptide processing enzymes SPC2 and SPC3 (subtilase-like pro-protein convertases) or dense core secretory granules. Various theories such as the APUD (amine precursor uptake decarboxylation) concept, the diffuse neuroendocrine system (DNES) or the paraneuron concept have been put forth to classify neuroendocrine cells as a cohesive group. Neuroendocrine characteristics have been used as evidence of a common embryological origin for normal and neoplastic cells. However, it is now recognized that neuroendocrine characteristics can be observed in various cell types, such as immunocytes, that do not share a common embryological origin with either neurons or endocrine cells. We propose to redefine previous "neuroendocrine" concepts to include the notion that activation of specific genetic switches can lead to the expression of a partial or full neuroendocrine phenotype in a variety of cell types, including immune cells.