title: Cancer: a missing link in ecosystem functioning?
abstract: Cancer is a disease that affects the majority of metazoan species and, before directly causing host death, is likely to influence the competitive abilities of individuals, their susceptibility to pathogens, their vulnerability to predators, and their ability to disperse. Despite the potential importance of these ecological impacts, cancer is rarely incorporated into model ecosystems. We describe here the diversity of ways in which oncogenic phenomena, from precancerous lesions to generalized metastatic cancers, may affect ecological processes that govern biotic interactions. We argue that oncogenic phenomena, despite their complexity, can have significant and sometimes predictable ecological consequences. Our aim is to provide a new perspective on the ecological and evolutionary significance of cancer in wildlife, and to stimulate research on this topic.
authors: Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Écologie, Génétique, Évolution et Contrôle (MIVEGEC), Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)/Unité Mixte 5290, 911 Avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier CEDEX 5, France; Centre de Recherche de la Tour du Valat, le Sambuc, 13200, Arles, France; Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Cancer Research (CREEC), 95 rue de la Galera, 34090, Montpellier, France.
authors: Marion
authors: M
authors: Vittecoq
authors: Benjamin
authors: B
authors: Roche
authors: Simon P
authors: SP
authors: Daoust
authors: Hugo
authors: H
authors: Ducasse
authors: Dorothée
authors: D
authors: Missé
authors: Jérome
authors: J
authors: Abadie
authors: Sophie
authors: S
authors: Labrut
authors: François
authors: F
authors: Renaud
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Gauthier-Clerc
authors: Frédéric
authors: F
authors: Thomas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D063646:Carcinogenesis; D017753:Ecosystem; D056084:Genetic Fitness / Q000235:genetics*; D058685:Genetic Pleiotropy / Q000235:genetics*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
keywords: biotic interactions; cancer; ecosystem; tumor; wildlife