论文题目: Sea turtle fibropapilloma tumors share genomic drivers and therapeutic vulnerabilities with human cancers

作者：David J. Duffy et al.

发表日期: 2018/6/7

数字识别码：10.1038/s42003-018-0059-x

摘要：Wildlife populations are under intense anthropogenic pressures, with the geographic range of many species shrinking, dramatic reductions in population numbers and undisturbed habitats, and biodiversity loss. It is postulated that we are in the midst of a sixth (Anthropocene) mass extinction event, the first to be induced by human activity. Further, threatening vulnerable species is the increased rate of emerging diseases, another consequence of anthropogenic activities. Innovative approaches are required to help maintain healthy populations until the chronic underlying causes of these issues can be addressed. Fibropapillomatosis in sea turtles is one such wildlife disease. Here, we applied precision-medicine-based approaches to profile fibropapillomatosis tumors to better understand their biology, identify novel therapeutics, and gain insights into viral and environmental triggers for fibropapillomatosis. We show that fibropapillomatosis tumors share genetic vulnerabilities with human cancer types, revealing that they are amenable to treatment with human anti-cancer therapeutics.

根据本周《通讯-生物学》发表的一篇论文 Sea turtle ?bropapilloma tumors share genomic drivers and therapeutic vulnerabilities with human cancers，海龟肿瘤和人类癌症拥有类似的遗传脆弱性，这意味着人类癌症疗法或可用于治疗海龟肿瘤。

海龟种群目前面临灭绝威胁，海龟纤维性乳突瘤症（一种具有潜在致命性的恶性肿瘤）削弱了人类的保育措施效果。人为造成的栖息地恶化等问题促使这种肿瘤病毒和其它新出现的传染病在野生生物中传播扩散。对于该病毒与海龟宿主之间的关系，包括哪些基因负责驱动肿瘤发展，人们基本一无所知。

美国佛罗里达大学的David Duffy及同事应用目前用于人类癌症的精准医学技术，研究了负责海龟纤维性乳突瘤症肿瘤生长的分子信号传导事件。他们考察了肿瘤发展期间的基因表达变化，发现肿瘤受宿主基因的表达变化驱动，而不受病毒基因影响。

有鉴于此，作者认为这些驱动基因或可用作人类抗肿瘤疗法治疗海龟的靶标。以上发现也展示了精准医学方法用于处理罕见、研究不足的野生生物疾病的潜力。

原文链接：https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-018-0059-x（来源：科学网）