Lazebnik Yuri
Lerna Consulting, New Haven, CT, USA.
Oncotarget. 2019 Jan 8;10(3):259-262. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.26510.
Reticulate evolution, which involves the transfer of genes and other inheritable information between organisms, is of interest to a cancer researcher if only because "pirating" a trait can help a cell and its progeny adapt, survive, or take over much faster than by accumulating random mutations. However, despite being observed repeatedly in experimental models of neoplasia, reticulate evolution is assumed to be negligible in human cancer primarily because detecting gene transfer between the cells of the same genetic background can be difficult or impossible. This commentary suggests that gestational tumors, which are genetically distinct from the women who carry them, provide an opportunity to test whether reticulate evolution affects the development of human neoplasia.
网状进化涉及生物体之间基因和其他可遗传信息的转移，这一现象对癌症研究人员来说很有意义，原因很简单，即“窃取”一种特性能够帮助细胞及其后代更快地适应、存活或占据主导地位，比通过积累随机突变的速度要快得多。然而，尽管在肿瘤形成的实验模型中已反复观察到网状进化现象，但在人类癌症中，网状进化被认为是微不足道的，主要是因为在具有相同遗传背景的细胞之间检测基因转移可能很困难甚至无法实现。本评论表明，与携带它们的女性在基因上不同的妊娠肿瘤，为测试网状进化是否影响人类肿瘤的发展提供了一个机会。
