First, we will discuss infectious or contagious tumours which have, so far, been identified in four distinct groups of animals and compare them to such entities found associated with humans. To highlight the benefits of a concerted approach harvesting data from animal cancers we will use two typical examples from the field of veterinary oncology. Rous' seminal work identifying the first oncogenic virus in fowl not only led to the discovery of tyrosine kinases and (proto)oncogenes, but preceded (and, therefore, arguably predicted) Epstein's discovery of the first human oncogenic virus by more than 50 years 12. Furthermore, there are historical precedences indicating how important zoological cancers can be for oncological researchers. However, it is important to note that cancer is also common among non-human animals 8 - 10 which - with rare exceptions like, for example, the Greenland Shark ( Somniosus microcephalus) 11 - do not exceed the life expectancy of an average human and - environmental pollutants aside - are less likely to succumb to bad life style choices. Yet, there remains a certain amount of floccinaucinihilipilification when cancers of non-human origin are discussed outside their uses as surrogate entities, as their medical relevance is often difficult to gauge. Shown here is a timeline highlighting the first verified occurrence/naming of novel features relating to cancer (blue), key developments in cancer sciences and oncology (red) and key medical and scientific uses of animals (green). These naturally occurring idiosyncrasies to avoid carcinogenesis represent novel potential therapeutic strategies.Ī brief history of the universe, animal life and cancer. To resolve what is known as Peto's Paradox, additional anticancer strategies within different species have to be postulated. Second, it has long been understood that no linear relationship exists between the number of cells within an organism and the cancer incidence rate. The existence of these malignancies also highlights the need for increased scrutiny when considering the existence of infectious cancers in humans. These malignancies might hold the key to improving our understanding of the interaction between tumour cell and immune system and, thus, allow us to devise novel treatment strategies that enhance anti-cancer immunosurveillance, as well as suggesting more effective organ and stem cell transplantation strategies. Discussing two distinct areas of tumour biology in non-human hosts, we highlight the importance of these findings for our current understanding of cancer, before proposing a coordinated strategy to harvest biomedical information from non-human resources and translate it into a clinical setting.įirst, infectious cancers that can be transmitted as allografts between individual hosts, have been identified in four distinct, unrelated groups, dogs, Tasmanian devils, Syrian hamsters and, surprisingly, marine bivalves. Cancers in animals present a large, underutilized reservoir of biomedical information with critical implication for human oncology and medicine in general.
0 kommentar(er)
