CANCER ACROSS LIFE: CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY AND THE EVOLUTIONOF MULTICELLARITY

摘要

Cancer is a problem of multicellularity. Multicellularity is characterized by cooperation among cells for the development, maintenance and reproduction of the multicellular organism. Cancer can be viewed as cheating within this cooperative multicellular system. Complex multicellularity, and the cooperation underlying it, has evolved independently multiple times. We review the existing literature on cancer and cancer-like phenomena across life. Most work characterizing the fundamental features of cancer and neoplastic growths have focused on cancer in humans and mice, with some work on cancer in captive animals and very little work on cancer in the wild. Here, we summarize reports of cancer and cancer-like phenomena in each of the six branches of complex multicellularity in the tree of life.