Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Highlight
  • Published:

Cancer genetics

The origin and evolution of an ancient cancer

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 14, page 152 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Murchison et al. sequenced the genomes of two CTVT tumours and their hosts, located in Brazil and Australia. Despite massive karyotype abnormalities, the tumour genomes were found by copy number analysis to be mostly diploid. This indicates that these structural aberrations in karyotype are generally copy number neutral. Interestingly, unlike human cancers, the authors observed no subclonality in the tumours, suggesting that CTVT is fairly genomically stable, and this may indicate that it is well adapted to its niche. Moreover, at least 646 genes, which represent 2.8% of total protein-coding genes in the dog genome, were found to be lost by deletion or nonsense mutation, and are thus collectively dispensable for cell survival.

The authors also identified four mutational signatures in CTVT, which explained 98% of all mutations in the CTVT genome. Three of these signatures are also found in human cancers: one is correlated with patient age, one has an unknown aetiology and one corresponds to exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Forty-two percent of mutations in CTVT are associated with this latter signature, indicating that the CTVT cancer cells have been periodically exposed to UV light during the history of the CTVT lineage.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Murchison, E. P. et al. Transmissible dog cancer genome reveals the origin and history of an ancient cell lineage. Science 343, 437–440 (2014)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Isabel Lokody
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lokody, I. The origin and evolution of an ancient cancer. Nat Rev Cancer 14, 152 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3686

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3686

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer