Gene expression in soft-shell clam (<i>Mya arenaria</i>) transmissible cancer reveals survival mechanisms during host infection and seawater transfer.

ABSTRACT: Transmissible cancers are unique instances in which cancer cells escape their original host and spread through a population as a clonal lineage, documented in Tasmanian Devils, dogs, and ten bivalve species. For a cancer to repeatedly transmit to new hosts, these lineages must evade strong barriers to transmission, notably the metastasis-like physical transfer to a new host body and rejection by that host's immune system. We quantified gene expression in a transmissible cancer lineage that has spread through the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria) population to investigate potential drivers of its success as a transmissible cancer lineage, observing extensive differential expression of genes and gene pathways. We observed upregulation of genes involved with genotoxic stress response, rib

SUBMITTER: Hart SFM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11429866 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature