Cancer and neoplasms

A deep dive into transmissible cancer evolution in bivalve mollusks

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21
Nov

Transmissible cancer affects marine bivalve mollusks worldwide, but how genetic mechanisms influence cancer evolution and disease spread remains largely unexplored. Two new studies provide insights into the ancient origin of founder clones and the long-term tolerance of contagious cancer cells to extreme genome instability.

Two studies in this issue of Nature Cancer set out to elucidate the origin and evolution of BTN in two edible mollusks. Bruzos et al.6 performed in-depth genetic characterizations of 61 cases of BTN in the common cockle Cerastoderma edule, which inhabits the Atlantic coasts of Europe and northwest Africa. Hart et al.7 conducted their research on the soft-shell clam Mya arenaria using eight diseased animals found on the east coast of North America. The large-scale study reported by Bruzos et al.6 explores the vast geographical spread of cockle BTN throughout Europe, whereas Hart et al.7 have a greater focus on unravelling the evolutionary history of an American BTN lineage. Both studies obtained high-quality reference genomes for each species and identified single nucleotide variants (SNVs) that were present only in diseased individuals. These genetic data were used to construct phylogenetic trees of the tumors, which indicate that M. arenaria is affected by a single cancer lineage (MarBTN), whereas C. edule hosts two independent transmissible cancers (CedBTN). C. edule and M. arenaria diverged approximately 440 million years ago8. The fact that these genetically distant species both harbor transmissible cancer clones may imply a general susceptibility of marine bivalve mollusks to transmissible cancer.

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Fig. 1: Transmissible cancer in bivalve mollusks is characterized by long-term tolerance of nuclear and mitochondrial genome instability.

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  1. University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Anna Schönbichler

  2. Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Andreas Bergthaler

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  1. Anna Schönbichler
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  2. Andreas Bergthaler
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Andreas Bergthaler.

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Schönbichler, A., Bergthaler, A. A deep dive into transmissible cancer evolution in bivalve mollusks.
Nat Cancer 4, 1528–1530 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-023-00655-3

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  • Published: 22 November 2023

  • Issue Date: November 2023

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-023-00655-3

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