Scientists have discovered that cancers have been spreading for centuries among shellfish a revolutionary reveal that could change the way cancer is treated.
Dr Adrian Baez-Ortega, a biologist at the UK’s Wellcome Sanger Institute, along with European researchers, discovered that two strains of leukaemia-like cancer has been spreading among shellfish for centuries
A European study last week found the leukemia-like cancer cells float freely in the water before being taken up by clams, multiplying and replicating in their host before spreading to others.
In the 1970s, soft-shell clams started mysteriously dying off in Maine and the Chesapeake Bay. Years later, scientists identified the culprit: a bizarre form of cancer that spread like an epidemic. When people get cancer, it typically arises when some of their own cells gain mutations and multiply out of control. But the clams were being invaded by free-floating cells that came from other clams. The alien cancer cell multiplied inside its new victim, and then some of its descendant cells escaped
In the 1970s, soft-shell clams started mysteriously dying off in Maine and the Chesapeake Bay. Years later, scientists identified the culprit: a bizarre form of cancer that spread like an epidemic. When people get cancer, it typically arises when some of their own cells gain mutations and multiply out of control. But the clams were being invaded by free-floating cells that came from other clams. The alien cancer cell multiplied inside its new victim, and then some of its descendant cells escaped