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Bramwell G, DeGregori J, Thomas F, Ujvari B. Transmissible cancers, the genomes that do not melt down. Evolution 2024; 78:1205-1211. [PMID: 38656785 DOI: 10.1093/evolut/qpae063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2023] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Evolutionary theory predicts that the accumulation of deleterious mutations in asexually reproducing organisms should lead to genomic decay. Clonally reproducing cell lines, i.e., transmissible cancers, when cells are transmitted as allografts/xenografts, break these rules and survive for centuries and millennia. The currently known 11 transmissible cancer lineages occur in dogs (canine venereal tumour disease), in Tasmanian devils (devil facial tumor diseases, DFT1 and DFT2), and in bivalves (bivalve transmissible neoplasia). Despite the mutation loads of these cell lines being much higher than observed in human cancers, they have not been eliminated in space and time. Here, we provide potential explanations for how these fascinating cell lines may have overcome the fitness decline due to the progressive accumulation of deleterious mutations and propose that the high mutation load may carry an indirect positive fitness outcome. We offer ideas on how these host-pathogen systems could be used to answer outstanding questions in evolutionary biology. The recent studies on the evolution of these clonal pathogens reveal key mechanistic insight into transmissible cancer genomes, information that is essential for future studies investigating how these contagious cancer cell lines can repeatedly evade immune recognition, evolve, and survive in the landscape of highly diverse hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgina Bramwell
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - James DeGregori
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, United States
| | - Frédéric Thomas
- CREEC, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290, Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Beata Ujvari
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University, 75 Pigdons Road, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia
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2
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Dujon AM, Boutry J, Tissot S, Lemaître JF, Boddy AM, Gérard AL, Alvergne A, Arnal A, Vincze O, Nicolas D, Giraudeau M, Telonis-Scott M, Schultz A, Pujol P, Biro PA, Beckmann C, Hamede R, Roche B, Ujvari B, Thomas F. Cancer Susceptibility as a Cost of Reproduction and Contributor to Life History Evolution. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.861103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Reproduction is one of the most energetically demanding life-history stages. As a result, breeding individuals often experience trade-offs, where energy is diverted away from maintenance (cell repair, immune function) toward reproduction. While it is increasingly acknowledged that oncogenic processes are omnipresent, evolving and opportunistic entities in the bodies of metazoans, the associations among reproductive activities, energy expenditure, and the dynamics of malignant cells have rarely been studied. Here, we review the diverse ways in which age-specific reproductive performance (e.g., reproductive aging patterns) and cancer risks throughout the life course may be linked via trade-offs or other mechanisms, as well as discuss situations where trade-offs may not exist. We argue that the interactions between host–oncogenic processes should play a significant role in life-history theory, and suggest some avenues for future research.
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3
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Fortunato A, Fleming A, Aktipis A, Maley CC. Upregulation of DNA repair genes and cell extrusion underpin the remarkable radiation resistance of Trichoplax adhaerens. PLoS Biol 2021; 19:e3001471. [PMID: 34788294 PMCID: PMC8635375 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Trichoplax adhaerens is the simplest multicellular animal with tissue differentiation and somatic cell turnover. Like all other multicellular organisms, it should be vulnerable to cancer, yet there have been no reports of cancer in T. adhaerens or any other placozoan. We investigated the cancer resistance of T. adhaerens, discovering that they are able to tolerate high levels of radiation damage (218.6 Gy). To investigate how T. adhaerens survive levels of radiation that are lethal to other animals, we examined gene expression after the X-ray exposure, finding overexpression of genes involved in DNA repair and apoptosis including the MDM2 gene. We also discovered that T. adhaerens extrudes clusters of inviable cells after X-ray exposure. T. adhaerens is a valuable model organism for studying the molecular, genetic, and tissue-level mechanisms underlying cancer suppression. The placozoan Trichoplax adhaerens is able to tolerate high levels of radiation and is resilient to DNA damage; this study reveals that exposure to X-rays triggers the extrusion of cell clusters which subsequently die, and that radiation exposure induces the overexpression of genes involved in DNA repair.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelo Fortunato
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America.,Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society, Arizona State University, Arizona, United States of America.,School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Alexis Fleming
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America.,Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society, Arizona State University, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Athena Aktipis
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America.,Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
| | - Carlo C Maley
- Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America.,Biodesign Center for Biocomputing, Security and Society, Arizona State University, Arizona, United States of America.,School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, United States of America
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4
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Fields C, Levin M. Why isn't sex optional? Stem-cell competition, loss of regenerative capacity, and cancer in metazoan evolution. Commun Integr Biol 2020; 13:170-183. [PMID: 33403054 PMCID: PMC7746248 DOI: 10.1080/19420889.2020.1838809] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2020] [Revised: 10/14/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals that can reproduce vegetatively by fission or budding and also sexually via specialized gametes are found in all five primary animal lineages (Bilateria, Cnidaria, Ctenophora, Placozoa, Porifera). Many bilaterian lineages, including roundworms, insects, and most chordates, have lost the capability of vegetative reproduction and are obligately gametic. We suggest a developmental explanation for this evolutionary phenomenon: obligate gametic reproduction is the result of germline stem cells winning a winner-take-all competition with non-germline stem cells for control of reproduction and hence lineage survival. We develop this suggestion by extending Hamilton's rule, which factors the relatedness between parties into the cost/benefit analysis that underpins cooperative behaviors, to include similarity of cellular state. We show how coercive or deceptive cell-cell signaling can be used to make costly cooperative behaviors appear less costly to the cooperating party. We then show how competition between stem-cell lineages can render an ancestral combination of vegetative reproduction with facultative sex unstable, with one or the other process driven to extinction. The increased susceptibility to cancer observed in obligately-sexual lineages is, we suggest, a side-effect of deceptive signaling that is exacerbated by the loss of whole-body regenerative abilities. We suggest a variety of experimental approaches for testing our predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael Levin
- Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
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5
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Dujon AM, Bramwell G, Roche B, Thomas F, Ujvari B. Transmissible cancers in mammals and bivalves: How many examples are there?: Predictions indicate widespread occurrence. Bioessays 2020; 43:e2000222. [PMID: 33210313 DOI: 10.1002/bies.202000222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2020] [Revised: 10/15/2020] [Accepted: 10/15/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Transmissible cancers are elusive and understudied parasitic life forms caused by malignant clonal cells (nine lineages are known so far). They emerge by completing sequential steps that include breaking cell cooperation, evade anti-cancer defences and shedding cells to infect new hosts. Transmissible cancers impair host fitness, and their importance as selective force is likely largely underestimated. It is, therefore, crucial to determine how common they might be in the wild. Here, we draw a parallel between the steps required for a transmissible cancer to emerge and the steps required for an intelligent civilisation to emerge in the Milky Way using a modified Drake equation. Using numerical analyses, we estimate the potential number of extant marine and bivalve species in which transmissible cancers might exist. Our results suggest that transmissible cancers are more common than expected, and that new lineages can be found by screening a large number of species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine M Dujon
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic, Australia.,CREEC, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.,CANECEV International Research Project, Centre de Recherches Ecologiques et Evolutives sur le Cancer (CREEC), Montpellier
| | - Georgina Bramwell
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic, Australia.,CANECEV International Research Project, Centre de Recherches Ecologiques et Evolutives sur le Cancer (CREEC), Montpellier
| | - Benjamin Roche
- IRD, Sorbonne Université, Bondy, France.,MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Université Montpellier, Montpellier, France.,Departamento de Etología, Fauna Silvestre y Animales de Laboratorio, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad de México, México
| | - Frédéric Thomas
- CREEC, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.,CANECEV International Research Project, Centre de Recherches Ecologiques et Evolutives sur le Cancer (CREEC), Montpellier
| | - Beata Ujvari
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Deakin University, Geelong, Vic, Australia.,CANECEV International Research Project, Centre de Recherches Ecologiques et Evolutives sur le Cancer (CREEC), Montpellier
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6
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Aubier TG, Galipaud M, Erten EY, Kokko H. Transmissible cancers and the evolution of sex under the Red Queen hypothesis. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3000916. [PMID: 33211684 PMCID: PMC7676742 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2020] [Accepted: 09/21/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The predominance of sexual reproduction in eukaryotes remains paradoxical in evolutionary theory. Of the hypotheses proposed to resolve this paradox, the 'Red Queen hypothesis' emphasises the potential of antagonistic interactions to cause fluctuating selection, which favours the evolution and maintenance of sex. Whereas empirical and theoretical developments have focused on host-parasite interactions, the premises of the Red Queen theory apply equally well to any type of antagonistic interactions. Recently, it has been suggested that early multicellular organisms with basic anticancer defences were presumably plagued by antagonistic interactions with transmissible cancers and that this could have played a pivotal role in the evolution of sex. Here, we dissect this argument using a population genetic model. One fundamental aspect distinguishing transmissible cancers from other parasites is the continual production of cancerous cell lines from hosts' own tissues. We show that this influx dampens fluctuating selection and therefore makes the evolution of sex more difficult than in standard Red Queen models. Although coevolutionary cycling can remain sufficient to select for sex under some parameter regions of our model, we show that the size of those regions shrinks once we account for epidemiological constraints. Altogether, our results suggest that horizontal transmission of cancerous cells is unlikely to cause fluctuating selection favouring sexual reproduction. Nonetheless, we confirm that vertical transmission of cancerous cells can promote the evolution of sex through a separate mechanism, known as similarity selection, that does not depend on coevolutionary fluctuations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas G. Aubier
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Matthias Galipaud
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - E. Yagmur Erten
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Hanna Kokko
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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7
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Dujon AM, Gatenby RA, Bramwell G, MacDonald N, Dohrmann E, Raven N, Schultz A, Hamede R, Gérard AL, Giraudeau M, Thomas F, Ujvari B. Transmissible Cancers in an Evolutionary Perspective. iScience 2020; 23:101269. [PMID: 32592998 PMCID: PMC7327844 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2020] [Revised: 05/02/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Inter-individual transmission of cancer cells represents an intriguing and unexplored host-pathogen system, with significant ecological and evolutionary ramifications. The pathogen consists of clonal malignant cell lines that spread horizontally as allografts and/or xenografts. Although only nine transmissible cancer lineages in eight host species from both terrestrial and marine environments have been investigated, they exhibit evolutionary dynamics that may provide novel insights into tumor-host interactions particularly in the formation of metastases. Here we present an overview of known transmissible cancers, discuss the necessary and sufficient conditions for cancer transmission, and provide a comprehensive review on the evolutionary dynamics between transmissible cancers and their hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine M Dujon
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia
| | - Robert A Gatenby
- Department of Radiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - Georgina Bramwell
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia
| | - Nick MacDonald
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia
| | - Erin Dohrmann
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia
| | - Nynke Raven
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia
| | - Aaron Schultz
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia
| | - Rodrigo Hamede
- School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia
| | - Anne-Lise Gérard
- CREEC, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Mathieu Giraudeau
- CREEC, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Frédéric Thomas
- CREEC, UMR IRD 224-CNRS 5290-Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France
| | - Beata Ujvari
- Deakin University, Geelong, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Waurn Ponds, Vic 3216, Australia; School of Natural Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia.
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8
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Dujon AM, Schofield G, Bramwell G, Raven N, Hamede R, Thomas F, Ujvari B. Global meta‐analysis of over 50 years of multidisciplinary and international collaborations on transmissible cancers. Evol Appl 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eva.12938] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Antoine M. Dujon
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences Centre for Integrative Ecology Deakin University Victoria Australia
- CREEC/MIVEGEC UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290 Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - Gail Schofield
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary University of London London UK
| | - Georgina Bramwell
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences Centre for Integrative Ecology Deakin University Victoria Australia
| | - Nynke Raven
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences Centre for Integrative Ecology Deakin University Victoria Australia
| | - Rodrigo Hamede
- School of Natural Sciences University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia
| | - Frédéric Thomas
- CREEC/MIVEGEC UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290 Montpellier Cedex 5 France
| | - Beata Ujvari
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences Centre for Integrative Ecology Deakin University Victoria Australia
- School of Natural Sciences University of Tasmania Hobart Tasmania Australia
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9
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Speijer D. Debating Eukaryogenesis—Part 2: How Anachronistic Reasoning Can Lure Us into Inventing Intermediates. Bioessays 2020; 42:e1900153. [DOI: 10.1002/bies.201900153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/30/2019] [Revised: 12/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Dave Speijer
- Medical Biochemistry, Amsterdam UMCUniversity of Amsterdam Meibergdreef 15 Amsterdam AZ 1105 Netherlands
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