Cancer Is Not (Only) a Senescence Problem

Frédéric Thomas; Fabrice Vavre; Tazzio Tissot; Marion Vittecoq; Mathieu Giraudeau; Florence Bernex; Dorothée Misse; François Renaud; Nynke Raven; Christa Beckmann; Rodrigo Hamede; Peter A Biro; Beata Ujvari

doi:10.1016/j.trecan.2018.01.002

Cancer Is Not (Only) a Senescence Problem

Trends Cancer. 2018 Mar;4(3):169-172. doi: 10.1016/j.trecan.2018.01.002.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ CREEC/MIVEGEC, UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France. Electronic address: frederic.thomas2@ird.fr.
² Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive UMR5558, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France.
³ CREEC/MIVEGEC, UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences - Paris, Sorbonne Université-CNRS-IRD-INRA-P7-UPEC, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France.
⁴ Centre de Recherche de la Tour du Valat, le Sambuc, 13200 Arles, France.
⁵ Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ 85287-4501, USA; Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK.
⁶ RHEM, IRCM, Institute of Cancer Research Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier, France; ICM Regional Cancer Institute of Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
⁷ CREEC/MIVEGEC, UMR IRD/CNRS/UM 5290, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
⁸ Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia.
⁹ Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia; Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
¹⁰ RHEM, IRCM, Institute of Cancer Research Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier, France; Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia.
¹¹ RHEM, IRCM, Institute of Cancer Research Montpellier, INSERM, Montpellier, France.
¹² Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, VIC 3216, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 55, Hobart, TAS 7001, Australia.

PMID: 29506667
DOI: 10.1016/j.trecan.2018.01.002

Abstract

Age is one of the strongest predictors of cancer and risk of death from cancer. Cancer is therefore generally viewed as a senescence-related malady. However, cancer also exists at subclinical levels in humans and other animals, but its earlier effects on the body are poorly known by comparison. We argue here that cancer is a significant but ignored burden on the body and is likely to be a strong selective force from early during the lifetime of an organism. It is time to adopt this novel view of malignant pathologies to improve our understanding of the ways in which oncogenic phenomena influence the ecology and evolution of animals long before their negative impacts become evident and fatal.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Cellular Senescence*
Humans
Neoplasms*