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Ma Z(S, Zhang YP. Ecology of Human Medical Enterprises: From Disease Ecology of Zoonoses, Cancer Ecology Through to Medical Ecology of Human Microbiomes. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.879130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In nature, the interaction between pathogens and their hosts is only one of a handful of interaction relationships between species, including parasitism, predation, competition, symbiosis, commensalism, and among others. From a non-anthropocentric view, parasitism has relatively fewer essential differences from the other relationships; but from an anthropocentric view, parasitism and predation against humans and their well-beings and belongings are frequently related to heinous diseases. Specifically, treating (managing) diseases of humans, crops and forests, pets, livestock, and wildlife constitute the so-termed medical enterprises (sciences and technologies) humans endeavor in biomedicine and clinical medicine, veterinary, plant protection, and wildlife conservation. In recent years, the significance of ecological science to medicines has received rising attentions, and the emergence and pandemic of COVID-19 appear accelerating the trend. The facts that diseases are simply one of the fundamental ecological relationships in nature, and the study of the relationships between species and their environment is a core mission of ecology highlight the critical importance of ecological science. Nevertheless, current studies on the ecology of medical enterprises are highly fragmented. Here, we (i) conceptually overview the fields of disease ecology of wildlife, cancer ecology and evolution, medical ecology of human microbiome-associated diseases and infectious diseases, and integrated pest management of crops and forests, across major medical enterprises. (ii) Explore the necessity and feasibility for a unified medical ecology that spans biomedicine, clinical medicine, veterinary, crop (forest and wildlife) protection, and biodiversity conservation. (iii) Suggest that a unified medical ecology of human diseases is both necessary and feasible, but laissez-faire terminologies in other human medical enterprises may be preferred. (iv) Suggest that the evo-eco paradigm for cancer research can play a similar role of evo-devo in evolutionary developmental biology. (v) Summarized 40 key ecological principles/theories in current disease-, cancer-, and medical-ecology literatures. (vi) Identified key cross-disciplinary discovery fields for medical/disease ecology in coming decade including bioinformatics and computational ecology, single cell ecology, theoretical ecology, complexity science, and the integrated studies of ecology and evolution. Finally, deep understanding of medical ecology is of obvious importance for the safety of human beings and perhaps for all living things on the planet.
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Whelan CJ, Gatenby RA. Special Collection on Ecological and Evolutionary Approaches to Cancer Control: Cancer Finds a Conceptual Home. Cancer Control 2021; 27:1073274820942356. [PMID: 33054362 PMCID: PMC7791469 DOI: 10.1177/1073274820942356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite a century of intense investigation, cancer biology and treatment
remain plagued by unanswered questions. Even basic questions regarding
the fundamental forces driving the formation of cancer remain
controversial. Recent approaches view cancer in the context of a
complex web of interactions among cancer cells of the tumor, together
with their interactions with the many cells and constituents of the
complex and highly dynamic tumor microenvironment. As seen in this
special collection, we believe that viewing cancer as a process of
evolution driven by ongoing ecological processes playing out within a
dynamic environment offers many insights and potential new pathways
for cancer control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Whelan
- Cancer Biology and Evolution Program, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.,Department of Cancer Physiology, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Robert A Gatenby
- Cancer Biology and Evolution Program, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.,Department of Integrated Mathematical Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.,Department of Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Radiology, Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
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