Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/28831
Type
ArticleCopyright
Open access
Embargo date
2020-01-01
Collections
Metadata
Show full item record
HELMINTHS AND CANCERS FROM THE EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
microbioma
cancer
biomarcadores
filogenia
evolução molecular
evolução da medicina
bioinformatica
microbiome
cancer
biomarkers
phylogeny
molecular evolution
evolutionary medicine
bioinformatics
Affilliation
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Instituto René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Vice-Presidência de Pesquisa e Coleções Biológicas. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Instituto René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Medicina. Departamento de Anatomia Patológica. Belo Horizonte,MG, Brazil
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Instituto René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Faculdade Promove de Tecnologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Instituto René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Faculdade de Medicina. Departamento de Anatomia Patológica. Belo Horizonte,MG, Brazil
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Instituto René Rachou. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil/Faculdade Promove de Tecnologia. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
Abstract
Helminths include free-living and parasitic Platyhelminthes and Nematoda which infect millions of people worldwide. Some Platyhelminthes species of blood flukes (Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma japonicum, and Schistosoma mansoni) and liver flukes (Clonorchis sinensis and Opisthorchis viverrini) are known to be involved in human cancers. Other helminths are likely to be carcinogenic. Our main goals are to summarize the current knowledge of human cancers caused by Platyhelminthes, point out some helminth and human biomarkers identified so far, and highlight the potential contributions of phylogenetics and molecular evolution to cancer research. Human cancers caused by helminth infection include cholangiocarcinoma, colorectal hepatocellular carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and urinary bladder cancer. Chronic inflammation is proposed as a common pathway for cancer initiation and development. Furthermore, different bacteria present in gastric, colorectal, and urogenital microbiomes might be responsible for enlarging inflammatory and fibrotic responses in cancers. Studies have suggested that different biomarkers are involved in helminth infection and human cancer development; although, the detailed mechanisms remain under debate. Different helminth proteins have been studied by different approaches. However, their evolutionary relationships remain unsolved. Here, we illustrate the strengths of homology identification and function prediction of uncharacterized proteins from genome sequencing projects based on an evolutionary framework. Together, these approaches may help identifying new biomarkers for disease diagnostics and intervention measures. This work has potential applications in the field of phylomedicine (evolutionary medicine) and may contribute to parasite and cancer research.
Keywords in Portuguese
parasitamicrobioma
cancer
biomarcadores
filogenia
evolução molecular
evolução da medicina
bioinformatica
Keywords
parasitemicrobiome
cancer
biomarkers
phylogeny
molecular evolution
evolutionary medicine
bioinformatics
Share