Laplane Lucie, Lamoureux Anaïs, Richker Harley I, Marquez Alcaraz Gissel, Fortunato Angelo, Shaffer Zachary, Aktipis Athena, Mischel Paul S, Plutynski Anya, Townsend Jeffrey P, Maley Carlo C
UMR8590, CNRS & University Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne, Paris, France.
UMR1270, Inserm & Gustave Roussy Cancer Campus, Villejuif, France.
PLoS Biol. 2025 Jul 18;23(7):e3003290. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003290. eCollection 2025 Jul.
Natural selection occurs at multiple levels of organization in cancer. At an organismal level, natural selection has led to the evolution of diverse tumor suppression mechanisms, while at a cellular level, it favors traits that promote cellular proliferation, survival and cancer. Natural selection also occurs at a subcellular level, among collections of cells and even among collections of organisms; selection at these levels could influence the evolution of cancer and cancer suppression mechanisms, affecting cancer risk and treatment strategies. There may also be cancer-like processes happening at different levels of organization, in which uncontrolled proliferation at lower levels may disrupt a higher level of organization. This Essay examines how selection operates across levels, highlighting how we might leverage this understanding to improve cancer research, prevention and treatment.
自然选择在癌症的多个组织层次上发生。在个体水平上，自然选择导致了多种肿瘤抑制机制的进化，而在细胞水平上，它有利于促进细胞增殖、存活和癌症发生的特性。自然选择也发生在亚细胞水平、细胞群体之间甚至生物群体之间；这些水平上的选择可能会影响癌症和癌症抑制机制的进化，从而影响癌症风险和治疗策略。在不同的组织层次上也可能存在类似癌症的过程，其中较低层次的不受控制的增殖可能会扰乱更高层次的组织。本文探讨了选择如何在不同层次上发挥作用，强调了我们如何利用这一认识来改进癌症研究、预防和治疗。
