University of Rochester, Department of Biology, Rochester, NY, USA.
Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Nat Rev Cancer. 2018 Jul;18(7):433-441. doi: 10.1038/s41568-018-0004-9.
Cancer researchers have traditionally used the mouse and the rat as staple model organisms. These animals are very short-lived, reproduce rapidly and are highly prone to cancer. They have been very useful for modelling some human cancer types and testing experimental treatments; however, these cancer-prone species offer little for understanding the mechanisms of cancer resistance. Recent technological advances have expanded bestiary research to non-standard model organisms that possess unique traits of very high value to humans, such as cancer resistance and longevity. In recent years, several discoveries have been made in non-standard mammalian species, providing new insights on the natural mechanisms of cancer resistance. These include mechanisms of cancer resistance in the naked mole rat, blind mole rat and elephant. In each of these species, evolution took a different path, leading to novel mechanisms. Many other long-lived mammalian species display cancer resistance, including whales, grey squirrels, microbats, cows and horses. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer resistance in all these species is important and timely, as, ultimately, these mechanisms could be harnessed for the development of human cancer therapies.
癌症研究人员传统上使用老鼠作为主要的模式生物。这些动物的寿命很短，繁殖迅速，极易患癌症。它们在模拟某些人类癌症类型和测试实验性治疗方面非常有用；然而，这些易患癌症的物种对于了解癌症抵抗机制几乎没有什么帮助。最近的技术进步将动物研究扩展到了非标准的模式生物，这些生物具有对人类非常有价值的独特特征，如癌症抵抗和长寿。近年来，在非标准的哺乳动物物种中发现了一些新的发现，为癌症抵抗的自然机制提供了新的见解。这些机制包括无毛鼹鼠、盲鼹鼠和大象的癌症抵抗机制。在这些物种中，进化走了不同的道路，导致了新的机制。许多其他长寿的哺乳动物物种也具有癌症抵抗能力，包括鲸鱼、灰松鼠、微型蝙蝠、奶牛和马。了解所有这些物种的癌症抵抗的分子机制是非常重要和及时的，因为最终这些机制可以被用于开发人类癌症治疗方法。
