Turning natural adaptations to oncogenic factors into an ally in the war against cancer

Marion Vittecoq (1) , Mathieu Giraudeau (2) , Tuul Sepp (3, 4) , David Marcogliese (5, 6) , Marcel Klaassen (7) , François Renaud (8) , Beata Ujvari (7) , Frédéric Thomas (8)

1 Centre de recherche de la Tour du Valat
2 CEBC - Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372
3 ASU - Arizona State University [Tempe]
4 University of Tartu
5 ECCC - Environment and Climate Change Canada
6 DFO - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
7 Centre for Integrative Ecology
8 MIVEGEC - Maladies infectieuses et vecteurs : écologie, génétique, évolution et contrôle

Both field and experimental evolution studies have demonstrated that organisms naturally or artificially exposed to environmental oncogenic factors can, sometimes rapidly, evolve specific adaptations to cope with pollutants and their adverse effects on fitness. Although numerous pollutants are mutagenic and carcinogenic, little attention has been given to exploring the extent to which adaptations displayed by organisms living in oncogenic environments could inspire novel cancer treatments, through mimicking the processes allowing these organisms to prevent or limit malignant progression. Building on a substantial knowledge base from the literature, we here present and discuss this progressive and promising research direction , advocating closer collaboration between the fields of medicine , ecology, and evolution in the war against cancer.

Domaines: Santé; Cancer; Sciences de l'environnement

Marion Vittecoq, Mathieu Giraudeau, Tuul Sepp, David Marcogliese, Marcel Klaassen, et al.. Turning natural adaptations to oncogenic factors into an ally in the war against cancer. Evolutionary Applications, 2018, 11 (6), pp.836-844. ⟨10.1111/eva.12608⟩. ⟨hal-01783679⟩