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Review
. 2018 Aug;93(3):1715-1734.
doi: 10.1111/brv.12415. Epub 2018 Apr 16.

From humans to hydra: patterns of cancer across the tree of life

Thales A F Albuquerque  1 , Luisa Drummond do Val  2 , Aoife Doherty  2 , João Pedro de Magalhães  2
Affiliations
Review

From humans to hydra: patterns of cancer across the tree of life

Thales A F Albuquerque et al. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2018 Aug.

Abstract

Cancer is a disease of multicellularity; it originates when cells become dysregulated due to mutations and grow out of control, invading other tissues and provoking discomfort, disability, and eventually death. Human life expectancy has greatly increased in the last two centuries, and consequently so has the incidence of cancer. However, how cancer patterns in humans compare to those of other species remains largely unknown. In this review, we search for clues about cancer and its evolutionary underpinnings across the tree of life. We discuss data from a wide range of species, drawing comparisons with humans when adequate, and interpret our findings from an evolutionary perspective. We conclude that certain cancers are uniquely common in humans, such as lung, prostate, and testicular cancer; while others are common across many species. Lymphomas appear in almost every animal analysed, including in young animals, which may be related to pathogens imposing selection on the immune system. Cancers unique to humans may be due to our modern environment or may be evolutionary accidents: random events in the evolution of our species. Finally, we find that cancer-resistant animals such as whales and mole-rats have evolved cellular mechanisms that help them avoid neoplasia, and we argue that there are multiple natural routes to cancer resistance.

Keywords: ageing; comparative oncology; evolution; longevity; tumour.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
One representation of phylogeny of the mammalian orders. We found reports of cancer for all groups shown in bold. Note that we divide the Cetartiodactyla into Cetacea and Artiodactyla according to Price, Bininda‐Emonds & Gittleman (2005). Numbers and letters between parentheses next to each group indicate their section numbers in this paper.
Figure 2
Figure 2
New cases of cancer worldwide in 2012 (crude values). Percentages show the contributions of each type of cancer to the overall number of new cases combining both sexes. Created using data from GLOBOCAN (Ferlay et al., 2013).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Changes in the cancer proportions from childhood to early adulthood; only rates above 1% are shown. Created using data from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention's WONDER Online Database (2016).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Proportion of different types of cancer in male and female non‐human primates. Created using our own data derived from a survey of the literature.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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