Cancer in the parasitic protozoans Trypanosoma brucei and Toxoplasma gondii

• 作 者: Zhao-RongLun[1]De-HuaLai[2]Yan-ZiWen[2]Ling-LingZheng[2]Ji-LongShen[3]Ting-BoYang[2]Wen-LiangZhou[2]Liang-HuQu[2]GeoffHide[4]FranciscoJ.Ayala[5]
• 机 构: Center for Parasitic Organisms,State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol,School of Life Sciences,Sun Yat-Se
• 出 处: 中国畜牧兽医学会兽医寄生虫学分会第十三次学术研讨会
• 发表日期: 2015年期

　　Cancer is a general name for more than 100 malignant diseases.It is postulated that all cancers start from a single abnormal cell that grows out of control.Untreated cancers can cause serious consequences and deaths.A great progress has been made in cancer research which significantly improved our knowledge to understand the nature and mechanisms of the disease,but the origins of cancer are far from being well understood due to limitations of suitable model systems and to the complexities of the disease.In view of the fact that the cancers are found in various species of vertebrates and other metazoa,here,we suggest that cancer also occurs in parasitic protozoans such as Trypanosoma brucei,a blood parasite,and Toxoplasma gondii,an obligate intracellular pathogen.Without treatment,these protozoan cancers may cause severe disease and death in mammals including humans.The simpler genomes of these single cell organisms,in combination with their complex life cycles and fascinating life cycle differentiation processes,may help us to better understand the origins of cancers,in particular,leukemias.