Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life?
Chimerism is a widespread phenomenon across the tree of life. It is defined as a multicellular organism composed of cells from other genetically distinct entities. This ability to ‘tolerate’ non-self cells may be linked to susceptibility to diseases like cancer. Here we test whether chimerism is ass...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10309991/?tool=EBI |
| _version_ | 1797788223825510400 |
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| author | Stefania E. Kapsetaki Angelo Fortunato Zachary Compton Shawn M. Rupp Zaid Nour Skyelyn Riggs-Davis Dylan Stephenson Elizabeth G. Duke Amy M. Boddy Tara M. Harrison Carlo C. Maley Athena Aktipis |
| author_facet | Stefania E. Kapsetaki Angelo Fortunato Zachary Compton Shawn M. Rupp Zaid Nour Skyelyn Riggs-Davis Dylan Stephenson Elizabeth G. Duke Amy M. Boddy Tara M. Harrison Carlo C. Maley Athena Aktipis |
| author_sort | Stefania E. Kapsetaki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Chimerism is a widespread phenomenon across the tree of life. It is defined as a multicellular organism composed of cells from other genetically distinct entities. This ability to ‘tolerate’ non-self cells may be linked to susceptibility to diseases like cancer. Here we test whether chimerism is associated with cancers across obligately multicellular organisms in the tree of life. We classified 12 obligately multicellular taxa from lowest to highest chimerism levels based on the existing literature on the presence of chimerism in these species. We then tested for associations of chimerism with tumour invasiveness, neoplasia (benign or malignant) prevalence and malignancy prevalence in 11 terrestrial mammalian species. We found that taxa with higher levels of chimerism have higher tumour invasiveness, though there was no association between malignancy or neoplasia and chimerism among mammals. This suggests that there may be an important biological relationship between chimerism and susceptibility to tissue invasion by cancerous cells. Studying chimerism might help us identify mechanisms underlying invasive cancers and also could provide insights into the detection and management of emerging transmissible cancers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:33:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f2653d868a644b749bef6e6aacdb541c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T01:33:31Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-f2653d868a644b749bef6e6aacdb541c2023-07-04T05:32:57ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01186Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life?Stefania E. KapsetakiAngelo FortunatoZachary ComptonShawn M. RuppZaid NourSkyelyn Riggs-DavisDylan StephensonElizabeth G. DukeAmy M. BoddyTara M. HarrisonCarlo C. MaleyAthena AktipisChimerism is a widespread phenomenon across the tree of life. It is defined as a multicellular organism composed of cells from other genetically distinct entities. This ability to ‘tolerate’ non-self cells may be linked to susceptibility to diseases like cancer. Here we test whether chimerism is associated with cancers across obligately multicellular organisms in the tree of life. We classified 12 obligately multicellular taxa from lowest to highest chimerism levels based on the existing literature on the presence of chimerism in these species. We then tested for associations of chimerism with tumour invasiveness, neoplasia (benign or malignant) prevalence and malignancy prevalence in 11 terrestrial mammalian species. We found that taxa with higher levels of chimerism have higher tumour invasiveness, though there was no association between malignancy or neoplasia and chimerism among mammals. This suggests that there may be an important biological relationship between chimerism and susceptibility to tissue invasion by cancerous cells. Studying chimerism might help us identify mechanisms underlying invasive cancers and also could provide insights into the detection and management of emerging transmissible cancers.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10309991/?tool=EBI |
| spellingShingle | Stefania E. Kapsetaki Angelo Fortunato Zachary Compton Shawn M. Rupp Zaid Nour Skyelyn Riggs-Davis Dylan Stephenson Elizabeth G. Duke Amy M. Boddy Tara M. Harrison Carlo C. Maley Athena Aktipis Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? PLoS ONE |
| title | Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? |
| title_full | Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? |
| title_fullStr | Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? |
| title_short | Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life? |
| title_sort | is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life |
| url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10309991/?tool=EBI |
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