Identifying host factors that block engraftment and progression of transmissible cancer as a model of AML

总结： 鉴定出能够阻断癌细胞植入和生长的宿主基因和途径， 革命性的新癌症治疗策略。在转移性癌症中，有许多步骤， 与宿主微环境相互作用：细胞从其原始位置释放，穿过 循环，植入到一个遥远的位置，并在新的环境中生长。所谓的液体肿瘤 像急性髓性白血病（AML）通常不被认为是转移性的，但白血病细胞扩散 并可导致称为髓样肉瘤的实体转移样肿瘤， 宿主的微环境。在软壳蛤（Mya arenaria）和其他双壳类中， AML样癌症谱系已经进化成反复转移-不仅仅是从原发性转移到继发性 地点，但从一个完整的动物到另一个，一遍又一遍地在整个人口几十年或 更长.这些致命的传染性癌症在自然界中施加了强大的选择压力，以选择蛤蜊， 阻断这种癌细胞谱系的植入和生长。我们将使用这种独特的双壳类传播 肿瘤（BTN）系统作为AML模型，以确定（1）哪些微环境表达模式 与转移性生长相关，（2）哪些基因与进展抵抗相关，以及（3）如何 不同的人群已经进化出对癌症的抵抗力。这项研究有可能提供一个 对癌症微环境的前所未有的了解，并揭示新的重要相互作用 癌症和宿主之间的联系

SUMMARY: Identification of host genes and pathways that can block cancer cell engraftment and growth could lead to revolutionary new cancer treatment strategies. In metastatic cancer, there are many steps in which cancer cells interact with the host microenvironment: the release of cells from their original location, travel through the circulation, engraftment into a distant location, and growth in the new environment. So-called liquid tumors like acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are not often considered to be metastatic, but leukemic cells disseminate throughout the body and can lead to solid metastasis-like tumors called myeloid sarcomas, interacting with the host microenvironment in similar ways. In the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), and other bivalves, fatal AML-like cancer lineages have evolved that metastasize repeatedly—not just from a primary to a secondary site, but from one whole animal to another, over and over again throughout the population for decades or longer. These fatal contagious cancers exert a strong selective pressure in nature to select for clams which can block engraftment and growth of this lineage of cancer cells. We will use this unique bivalve transmissible neoplasia (BTN) system as a model of AML to determine (1) which microenvironments expression patterns correlate with metastatic growth, (2) what genes correlate with resistance to progression, and (3) how different populations have evolved resistance to cancer. This study has the potential to provide an unprecedented understanding of cancer microenvironment and reveal new and important interactions between cancers and their hosts.