First, the design of study ;either randomized controlled trial(longitudinal study) or case control study, even nested case control. Second, use appropriate statistical tests for identifying the correlation.

Most research in cancer is in the developed world and is mostly associated with the aging of the population. Malaria, on the other hand, is most common in developing countries and children below 5 years and pregnant women are at greater risk. The risk of developing severe malaria is mostly due to lack of memory (no previous exposure like children and people from non-endemic areas) or suppressed immunity (in the case of pregnancy). In malaria, parasite sequestration has been reported in the bone marrow and malaria has been reported to affect many different hematology parameters and cells. Thus, malaria may be affecting the bone marrow and hematopoietic stem cell development (both myeloid and lymphoid progenitors due to stress caused by malaria). If this is true, then malaria will affect innate (granulocytes and their effector molecules) and adaptive (T/B cells and their effector molecules) immune cell production/responses which are very important for cancer control and down-regulation. The bone marrow is a central (primary) immune organ implicated in regulatory T cell production. Regulation of these cells may either aggravate or suppress cancer. Therefore, exploiting the bone marrow and its progenitor’s cells during malaria and cancer co-occurrence may give a bigger picture of the correlation between the disease and infection. Other infectious diseases like Hepatitis B, HIV and HPV can also lead to cancer if not well managed. They could integrate into the host genome and trigger cancer development. So, exploiting the transcriptomic of these infectious agents is imminent in evaluating and controlling certain cancers.

Please have al look at our paper:#Article Parasite Infection, Carcinogenesis and Human Malignancy