Quantifying and modeling the transmission dynamics of bivalve transmissible neoplasia

癌症通常不被认为是一种传染病。然而，最近在野外发现了几种可传播的癌症，癌细胞本身作为感染源在动物之间传播，导致陆地和海洋环境中的大量死亡。海洋双壳类似乎特别容易受到影响。自从不到十年前这个团队的成员首次发现致命的可传播癌症以来，全球八种双壳类动物中至少发现了九种致命性可传播癌症的谱系。众所周知，整个癌细胞从一种动物转移到另一种动物，但尚不清楚这种传染病是如何在个体水平上、在单个种群内或在环境中的种群之间传播的。这个跨学科团队正在将对疾病流行情况的敏感现场调查、实验室接种和体外实验与定量建模结合起来，以了解这种独特的传染病如何在自然界传播。该团队将继续通过科学出版物和与商业水产养殖和当地美洲原住民社区的会议，包括多个海岸Salish部落的研究伙伴，交流这一项目的结果。了解疾病传播原理可能有助于制定控制这种疾病的战略，这将直接帮助这些社区。团队成员还在太平洋西北研究所、西华盛顿大学和毕格罗海洋科学实验室的夏季研究体验中培训本科生。为了了解双壳类可传染癌症传播的基本原理，该团队研究了两个地理上分离的物种的不同谱系：北美大西洋海岸的软壳蚌(Mya Arenaria)，这是第一个被发现的双壳类癌症；以及北美洲太平洋海岸的一种篮状贝类(Clinercum Nuttallii)，团队最近在其中发现了双壳类可传染癌症。该团队正在开发两个量化模型，一个用于疾病在人群中随时间的传播，另一个用于模拟癌症谱系在不同人群之间的传播。他们正在用来自多个地点的野生种群的常规疾病流行数据来测试这些模型。疾病进展和传播的实验室工作通过提供关键参数值和测试环境变量(如温度)或遗传变量(如癌症与宿主的相关性)是否影响疾病进展的易感性和时间，来支持这些模型的开发和改进。该项目旨在发展对软壳文蛤和篮子贝类疾病动态的定量了解。最终，它将为这类新近发现的传染病的传播提供一般原则。该项目由环境生物学部门和海洋科学部门资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Cancer is not normally thought of as an infectious disease. However, several transmissible cancers have recently been found in the wild, in which the cancer cells themselves jump from animal to animal as an infectious agent, causing significant mortality on land and in the marine environment. Marine bivalves appear to be particularly susceptible. At least nine lineages of lethal transmissible cancer have been identified in eight bivalve species worldwide since they were first recognized as an infectious cancer by members of this team less than a decade ago. It is known that whole cancer cells transfer from one animal to another, but it is unclear how this infectious disease spreads at the individual level, within a single population, or between populations in the environment. The interdisciplinary team is combining sensitive field surveys of disease prevalence, laboratory inoculation, and in vitro experiments together with quantitative modeling to understand how this unique class of infectious disease spreads in nature. The team will continue to communicate the results of this project through scientific publications and meetings with commercial aquaculture and local Native American communities, including research partners in multiple Coast Salish Tribes. Understanding the disease transmission principles may help develop strategies to control this disease, which would directly help these communities. The team members are also training undergraduate students during summer research experiences at Pacific Northwest Research Institute, Western Washington University, and Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. To understand the basic principles of the spread of bivalve transmissible cancer, the team studies two separate lineages in geographically separated species: soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) on the Atlantic Coast of North America, the first bivalve transmissible cancer identified; and basket cockles (Clinocardium nuttallii), a species on the Pacific Coast of North America, in which the team has just recently identified bivalve transmissible cancer. The team is developing two quantitative models, one for the spread of disease within a population over time, and a second to model the spread of cancer lineages between different populations. They are testing these models with regular disease prevalence data from wild populations from multiple sites. Laboratory work on disease progression and transmission supports development and refinement of these models by providing critical parameter values and testing whether environmental variables (such as temperature) or genetic variables (such as the relatedness of cancer and host) affect the susceptibility and timing of disease progression. This project aims to develop a quantitative understanding of disease dynamics in soft-shell clams and basket cockles. Ultimately, it will provide general principles that underlie the spread of this recently discovered class of infectious disease.This project was funded by the Division of Environmental Biology and the Division of Ocean Sciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.