Boutry Justine, Rieu Océane, Guimard Lena, Meliani Jordan, Nedelcu Aurora M, Tissot Sophie, Stepanskyy Nikita, Ujvari Beata, Hamede Rodrigo, Dujon Antoine M, Tökölyi Jácint, Thomas Fréderic
CREEC/CANECEV (CREES), MIVEGEC, Unité Mixte de Recherches, IRD 224-CNRS 5290 Université de Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.
Elife. 2025 Mar 4;13:RP97271. doi: 10.7554/eLife.97271.
While host phenotypic manipulation by parasites is a widespread phenomenon, whether tumors, which can be likened to parasite entities, can also manipulate their hosts is not known. Theory predicts that this should nevertheless be the case, especially when tumors (neoplasms) are transmissible. We explored this hypothesis in a cnidarian model system, in which spontaneous tumors can occur in the lab, and lineages in which such neoplastic cells are vertically transmitted (through host budding) have been maintained for over 15 years. Remarkably, the hydras with long-term transmissible tumors show an unexpected increase in the number of their tentacles, allowing for the possibility that these neoplastic cells can manipulate the host. By experimentally transplanting healthy as well as neoplastic tissues derived from both recent and long-term transmissible tumors, we found that only the long-term transmissible tumors were able to trigger the growth of additional tentacles. Also, supernumerary tentacles, by permitting higher foraging efficiency for the host, were associated with an increased budding rate, thereby favoring the vertical transmission of tumors. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that, like true parasites, transmissible tumors can evolve strategies to manipulate the phenotype of their host.
虽然寄生虫对宿主表型的操控是一种普遍现象，但肿瘤（可类比为寄生实体）是否也能操控其宿主尚不清楚。理论预测情况应该如此，尤其是当肿瘤（新生物）具有传染性时。我们在一个刺胞动物模型系统中探究了这一假设，在该系统中实验室会出现自发性肿瘤，并且具有垂直传播（通过宿主出芽）肿瘤细胞的谱系已经维持了超过15年。值得注意的是，患有长期可传播肿瘤的水螅其触手数量意外增加，这使得这些肿瘤细胞有可能操控宿主。通过实验性移植来自近期和长期可传播肿瘤的健康组织以及肿瘤组织，我们发现只有长期可传播肿瘤能够促使额外触手的生长。此外，多余的触手通过提高宿主的觅食效率，与出芽率的增加相关，从而有利于肿瘤的垂直传播。据我们所知，这是首个证据表明，像真正的寄生虫一样，可传播肿瘤能够进化出操控宿主表型的策略。
