Cancer progression as a sequence of atavistic reversions: New model shows role of ancient genes in the spread of cancer
In spite of decades of research, cancer remains an enigma. Conventional wisdom holds that cancer is driven by random mutations that create aberrant cells that run amok in the body. In a new paper published this week in the journal BioEssays ACE researchers and...
Why Asian elephants get more cancer and infectious diseases than African elephants
Though cancer in elephants is rare, it does sometimes occur – more often in Asian elephants than in the 2 species of elephants found in Africa. This fascinating study by ACE members published May 2021 in Molecular Biology and Evolution explains why, and makes...
Identifying key questions in the ecology and evolution of cancer
This Perspective research paper published in Evolutionary Applications in 2021 provides a roadmap for studying cancer through the lens of evolution and ecology and suggests 84 important questions that should be addressed in coming years. Amongst the 30 plus experts...
Litter size relates to cancer risk; body mass and longevity do not
Why are some species of mammals more vulnerable to cancer than others? It’s an important question since the answers may guide us to new understandings of cancer development in humans. In a careful analysis of 42 years of necropsy data from San Diego Zoo and...
Bird size with dinosaur-level cancer defences: can evolutionary lags during miniaturisation explain cancer robustness in birds?
Fascinating preprint by ACE members E. Yagmu Erten, Marc Tollis, Hanna Kokko: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.22.345439v1 An increased appreciation of the ubiquity of cancer risk across the tree of life means we also need to understand the more robust...
