  Although a direct interaction between WIMP CDM candidates and scalar
Quintessence fields (sources of Dark Energy) poses severe phenomenological
threats, yet it is possible that the presence of Quintessence produces profound
deviations in the expansion rate of the early Universe at the moment of WIMP
decoupling, hence causing significant enhancements of the relic DM abundance.
We consider the occurrence of such a phenomenon in a couple of physically
interesting situations, kination and scalar-tensor theories of gravity where
the scalar component plays the role of Quintessence. The consequences for
supersymmetric DM candidates are briefly discussed.
