1
|
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.
Collapse
|
2
|
Hamilton PT, Anholt BR, Nelson BH. Tumour immunotherapy: lessons from predator-prey theory. Nat Rev Immunol 2022; 22:765-775. [PMID: 35513493 DOI: 10.1038/s41577-022-00719-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
With the burgeoning use of immune-based treatments for cancer, never has there been a greater need to understand the tumour microenvironment within which immune cells function and how it can be perturbed to inhibit tumour growth. Yet, current challenges in identifying optimal combinations of immunotherapies and engineering new cell-based therapies highlight the limitations of conventional paradigms for the study of the tumour microenvironment. Ecology has a rich history of studying predator-prey dynamics to discern factors that drive prey to extinction. Here, we describe the basic tenets of predator-prey theory as applied to 'predation' by immune cells and the 'extinction' of cancer cells. Our synthesis reveals fundamental mechanisms by which antitumour immunity might fail in sometimes counterintuitive ways and provides a fresh yet evidence-based framework to better understand and therapeutically target the immune-cancer interface.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Bradley R Anholt
- Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Brad H Nelson
- Deeley Research Centre, BC Cancer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. .,Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. .,Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|