Clonally transmissible cancer

A parasitic cancer or transmissible cancer is a cancer cell or cluster of cancer cells that can be transmitted from animal to animal. They are quite rare in humans and other animals. These cancers are distinct from cancers caused by infectious agents such as oncoviruses and cancer bacteria, which are more common.

Examples in animals

Cancer is not normally a contagious disease, but there are four known exceptions in dogs, Tasmanian devils, Syrian hamsters, and soft-shell clams. These cancers have a relatively stable genome as they are transmitted.[1] Because of their transmission, it was initially thought that these diseases were caused by the transfer of oncoviruses, in the manner of cervical cancer caused by HPV.

It has been suggested that animals that have undergone population bottlenecks are at greater risks of contracting transmissible cancers.[7]

Instances of transmission of human cancer

Transmissible cancers are rare in humans.[8] A malignant fibrous histiocytoma was contracted from a patient by a surgeon when he injured his hand during an operation.[9] More recently, Barozzi and colleagues found that a significant fraction of Kaposi's sarcoma occurring after transplantation may be due to tumorous outgrowth of donor cells.[10] Although Kaposi's sarcoma is caused by a virus (Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus), in these cases, it appears likely that transmission of virus-infected tumor cells—rather than the free virus—caused tumors in the transplant recipients.

Animals to humans

Only one known instance of cross-species cancer transmission is known, that of a 41-year-old man in Colombia with a compromised immune system due to HIV. The man's tumor cells were shown to have originated from the dwarf tapeworm, Hymenolepis nana, making this a case of parasite-to-host cancer transmission.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Retrovirology A sexually transmitted parasitic cancer
  2. ↑ Pearse, A.-M., Swift, K. (2006). "Allograft theory: Transmission of devil facial-tumour disease". Nature 439 (7076): 549. doi:10.1038/439549a. PMID 16452970.
  3. ↑ Murgia C, Pritchard JK, Kim SY, Fassati A, Weiss RA (August 2006). "Clonal origin and evolution of a transmissible cancer". Cell 126 (3): 477–87. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.05.051. PMC 2593932. PMID 16901782.
  4. ↑ COPPER, H.L.; MacKay, CM; Banfield, WG (1964-10-01). "CHROMOSOME STUDIES OF A CONTAGIOUS RETICULUM CELL SARCOMA OF THE SYRIAN HAMSTER". J Natl Cancer Inst 33: 691–706. PMID 14220251.
  5. ↑ Banfield, William G.; Woke, PA; MacKay, CM; Cooper, HL (1965-05-28). "Mosquito Transmission of a Reticulum Cell Sarcoma of Hamsters". Science 148 (3674): 1239–1240. doi:10.1126/science.148.3674.1239. PMID 14280009.
  6. ↑ Selfish shellfish cells cause contagious clam cancer, by Ed Yong, at National Geographic; published April 9, 2015; retrieved April 10, 2015
  7. ↑ Belov K (February 2011). "The role of the Major Histocompatibility Complex in the spread of contagious cancers". Mamm. Genome 22 (1-2): 83–90. doi:10.1007/s00335-010-9294-2. PMID 20963591.
  8. ↑ Welsh JS (2011). "Contagious cancer". Oncologist 16 (1): 1–4. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2010-0301. PMC 3228048. PMID 21212437.
  9. ↑ Gärtner, Hermine-Valeria; Seidl, Christian; Luckenbach, Christine; Schumm, Georg; Seifried, Erhard; Ritter, Horst; Bültmann, Burkhard (1996), "Genetic analysis of a sarcoma accidentally transplanted from a patient to a surgeon.", New England Journal of Medicine 335 (20): 1494–1497, doi:10.1056/NEJM199611143352004, PMID 8890100, retrieved 2009-03-29
  10. ↑ Barozzi, P.; Luppi, M.; Facchetti, F.; Mecucci, C.; Alù, M.; Sarid, R.; Rasini, V.; Ravazzini, L.; Rossi, E.; Festa, S.; Crescenzi, B.; Wolf, D. G.; Schulz, T. F.; Torelli, G. (2003). "Post-transplant Kaposi sarcoma originates from the seeding of donor-derived progenitors". Nature Medicine 9 (5): 554–561. doi:10.1038/nm862. PMID 12692543.
  11. ↑ "A Man In Colombia Got Cancer And It Came From A Tapeworm".
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