title: Resistance to cancer in amphibians: a role for apoptosis?
abstract: The rarity of spontaneous cancer in amphibians, and the difficulty of inducing cancer in these lower vertebrates, suggest that they possess an effective system for resistance to the development of cancer. The first part of this narrative presents evidence for cancer resistance in amphibians, and then a variety of studies designed to help understand the physiological basis for this resistance are reviewed. Here, our emphasis is on evidence with regard to the role that apoptosis might play.
authors: Reed College, Portland, OR, USA. ruben@reed.edu
authors: Laurens N
authors: LN
authors: Ruben
authors: Rachel O
authors: RO
authors: Johnson
authors: Richard H
authors: RH
authors: Clothier
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Balls
mesh_terms: D000663:Amphibians / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002453:Cell Cycle; D004260:DNA Repair; D060467:Disease Resistance; D008675:Metamorphosis, Biological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000662:veterinary*; D057891:Tetraploidy; D014982:Xenopus laevis