Detecting cancer in primitive animals

Every year, millions of people around the world are diagnosed with cancer. Each of them dreamed of winning the battle against cancer. But is it possible to defeat cancer completely? Researchers at Kiel University (CAU) in Germany have reached a serious conclusion: 'Cancer is as ancient as multicellular life on Earth and may never be completely eradicated. The root of this disease, ' Professor Thomas Bosch said in his latest research results.

This study, conducted by an international team led by Bosch, was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Cancer genes are ancient

The cause of tumors is cancer genes . Since evolution began creating tumors is a problem that scientists Tomislav Domazet - Loso and Diethard Tautz of Max Planck Research Institute of Evolutionary Biology at Plon have studied for many years, using bio-informational methods and the data they developed in the laboratory.

'During the search and study of the origin of the cancer-causing gene, we suddenly found it in a group of ancient organisms , ' explained Domazet-Loso. He is one of the authors of this study and currently works at Ruder Boskovic Research Institute and Croatia's Catholic University in Zagreb. 'Our data has predicted that the first multicellular animals already have most of the genes that can cause cancer in humans .' What remains mysterious so far is, on the one hand, evidence. shows that these organisms can tolerate tumors, and on the other hand, lack of molecular understanding of the mechanism of tumor formation in these simple organisms.

The cause of tumors: errors in cell death programming

The research team led by evolutionary biologist Professor Thomas Bosch from the Animal Research Institute at Kiel University recently gained an impressive understanding of the root of cancer. Bosch studied stem cells and the regulation of tissue growth in Hydra, an ancient phylogenetic polip, for many years.'Now we find that bringing the tumor into a polyp with two different Hydra species, a creature very similar to coral', Bosh emphasized the first result of this new study. This provides evidence that tumors actually exist in primitive animals and ancient evolutionary animals.

The team also looked at why the tumor-causing cells lie along the body's entire axis. For the first time they could demonstrate that stem cells, programmed cells to distinguish sex, accumulate in large quantities and are not removed by natural cell death. Interestingly, these tumors only affect those polip Hydra females and are similar to ovarian cancer in humans.

'When performing more detailed molecular molecular analyzes, we found that a gene becomes surprisingly active in tumor tissue and often prevents programmed cell death (programmed). cell death ' , Alexander Klimovic, a scholarship student at the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation at Kiel University's Animal Research Institute and the lead co-author of the study, emphasized the second discovery of this study. 'When the nonfunctional cell death mechanism is also created in response to the growth and spread of tumors in many human cancers, the similarities that appear here are similar to those of humans. ' , Klimovich said.

The third finding by scientists is that the tumor cells are spread. This means that if u cells are introduced into a healthy organism, they can activate the tumor to grow in that organism. Since then, Bosch researchers have drawn conclusions from his research in Hydra: ' The spread of cancer cells is also an ancient trait of evolution'.

Tumors have deep roots in evolution

Funds being deployed around the world in the fight against cancer are huge. Estimated in the US alone, more than $ 500 billion has been invested in cancer research in 2012. Global research has led to improvements in cancer prevention, diagnosis and treatment methods, which Certainly have certain successes. However, some tumors are currently only concerned when the slowing process has been achieved. Every second a person is affected by cancer is still unable to cope with the disease. In Germany, one in four people die from cancer and this trend is increasing.

(World Cancer Report 2014) These figures are the motivation for the US National Institutes of Health to launch a network of Cancer Centers - Physical Science, a new initiative aimed at connecting achievements of different sciences. Paul Davies, a famous theoretical physicist and writer who currently heads such a center in Phoenix, Arizona, recently concluded: 'It is clear that we can only fully understand the disease. cancer in the context of biological history ' (cited from Guardian magazine, 2012).

According to the group's research led by Bosch, findings of primitive tumors in Hydra were a breakthrough in that direction: 'Our research reaffirms that primitive animals like polip Hydra provides a great deal of information to help us understand complex issues like cancer. Our research also makes the declaration of 'Cancer War' published in 1970 possible never win. However, knowing where the enemy comes from is the best way to fight it, and thus can win many battles , 'Bosch said.