Stefania E Kapsetaki, Zachary T Compton, Walker Mellon, Orsolya Vincze, Mathieu Giraudeau, Tara M Harrison, Lisa M Abegglen, Amy M Boddy, Carlo C Maley, Joshua D Schiffman
{"title":"Germline mutation rate predicts cancer mortality across 37 vertebrate species.","authors":"Stefania E Kapsetaki, Zachary T Compton, Walker Mellon, Orsolya Vincze, Mathieu Giraudeau, Tara M Harrison, Lisa M Abegglen, Amy M Boddy, Carlo C Maley, Joshua D Schiffman","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae016","DOIUrl":"10.1093/emph/eoae016","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>Cancer develops across nearly every species. However, cancer occurs at unexpected and widely different rates throughout the animal kingdom. The reason for this variation in cancer susceptibility remains an area of intense investigation. Cancer evolves in part through the accumulation of mutations, and therefore, we hypothesized that germline mutation rates would be associated with cancer prevalence and mortality across species.</p><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>We collected previously published data on germline mutation rate and cancer mortality data for 37 vertebrate species.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Germline mutation rate was positively correlated with cancer mortality (P-value = 0.0008; R2 = 0.13). Controlling for species' average parental age, maximum longevity, adult body mass or domestication did not improve the model fit (the change (Δ) in Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was less than 2). However, this model fit was better than a model controlling for species trophic level (ΔAIC > 2).</p><p><strong>Conclusions and implications: </strong>The increased death rate from cancer in animals with increased germline mutation rates may suggest underlying hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes similar to those diagnosed in human patients. Species with higher germline mutation rates may benefit from close monitoring for tumors due to increased genetic risk for cancer development. Early diagnoses of cancer in these species may increase their chances of overall survival, especially for threatened and endangered species.</p>","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"12 1","pages":"122-128"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11372239/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142132236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Layla Brassington, Audrey M Arner, Marina M Watowich, Jane Damstedt, Ng Kee Seong, Yvonne Ai Lian Lim, Vivek V Venkataraman, Ian Wallace, Thomas S Kraft, Amanda J Lea
{"title":"Integrating the Thrifty Genotype and Evolutionary Mismatch Hypotheses to understand variation in cardiometabolic disease risk","authors":"Layla Brassington, Audrey M Arner, Marina M Watowich, Jane Damstedt, Ng Kee Seong, Yvonne Ai Lian Lim, Vivek V Venkataraman, Ian Wallace, Thomas S Kraft, Amanda J Lea","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae014","url":null,"abstract":"More than 60 years ago, James Neel proposed the Thrifty Genotype Hypothesis to explain the widespread prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Western, industrial contexts. This hypothesis posits that variants linked to conservative energy usage and increased fat deposition would have been favored throughout human evolution due to the advantages they could provide during periods of resource limitation. However, in industrial environments, these variants instead produce an increased risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and related health issues. This hypothesis has been popular and impactful, with thousands of citations, many ongoing debates, and several spin-off theories in biomedicine, evolutionary biology, and anthropology. However, despite great attention, the applicability and utility of the Thrifty Genotype Hypothesis (TGH) to modern human health remains, in our opinion, unresolved. To move research in this area forward, we first discuss the original formulation of the TGH and its critiques. Second, we trace the TGH to updated hypotheses that are currently at the forefront of the evolutionary medicine literature—namely, the Evolutionary Mismatch Hypothesis. Third, we lay out empirical predictions for updated hypotheses and evaluate them against the current literature. Finally, we discuss study designs that could be fruitful for filling current knowledge gaps; here, we focus on partnerships with subsistence-level groups undergoing lifestyle transitions, and we present data from an ongoing study with the Orang Asli of Malaysia to illustrate this point. Overall, we hope this synthesis will guide new empirical research aimed at understanding how the human evolutionary past interacts with our modern environments to influence cardiometabolic health","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"79 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141881226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Re-examining the adaptive function of nausea and vomiting in pregnancy","authors":"Emily H Emmott","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae012","url":null,"abstract":"Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) has been proposed to have a prophylactic function. In this commentary, I re-examine NVP from an evolutionary perspective in light of new research on NVP. First, current evidence suggests that the observed characteristics of NVP does not align well with a prophylactic function. Further, NVP is typically associated with high costs for pregnant women, while moderate-to-severe NVP is associated with increased risks of poorer foetal/birth outcomes. In contrast, mild NVP limited to early pregnancy may associate with improved foetal outcomes – indicating a potential evolutionary benefit. Second, researchers have recently identified growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) to cause NVP, with implications that low-levels of pre-conception GDF15 (associated with lower cellular stress/inflammation) may increase risks/symptoms of NVP. If so, NVP in contemporary post-industrialised populations may be more severe due to environmental mismatch, and the current symptomology of NVP in such populations should not be viewed as a typical experience of pregnancy.","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"59 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141525416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Stefania E Kapsetaki, Zachary T Compton, Jordyn Dolan, Valerie Κ Harris, Walker Mellon, Shawn M Rupp, Elizabeth G Duke, Tara M Harrison, Selin Aksoy, Mathieu Giraudeau, Orsolya Vincze, Kevin J McGraw, Athena Aktipis, Marc Tollis, Amy Μ Boddy, Carlo C Maley
{"title":"Life history traits and cancer prevalence in birds","authors":"Stefania E Kapsetaki, Zachary T Compton, Jordyn Dolan, Valerie Κ Harris, Walker Mellon, Shawn M Rupp, Elizabeth G Duke, Tara M Harrison, Selin Aksoy, Mathieu Giraudeau, Orsolya Vincze, Kevin J McGraw, Athena Aktipis, Marc Tollis, Amy Μ Boddy, Carlo C Maley","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae011","url":null,"abstract":"Background and objectives Cancer is a disease that affects nearly all multicellular life, including the broad and diverse taxa of Aves. While little is known about the factors that contribute to cancer risk across Aves, life history trade-offs may explain some of this variability in cancer prevalence. We predict birds with high investment in reproduction may have a higher likelihood of developing cancer. In this study, we tested whether life history traits are associated with cancer prevalence in 108 species of birds. Methodology We obtained life history data from published databases and cancer data from5,729 necropsies from 108 species of birds across 24 taxonomic orders from 25 different zoological facilities. We performed phylogenetically-controlled regression analyses between adult body mass, lifespan, incubation length, clutch size, sexually dimorphic traits, and both neoplasia and malignancy prevalence. We also compared the neoplasia and malignancy prevalence of female and male birds. Results Providing support for a life history trade-off between somatic maintenance and reproduction, we found a positive relationship between clutch size and cancer prevalence across Aves. There was no significant association with body mass, lifespan, incubation length, or sexual dimorphism and cancer. Conclusions and implications Life history theory presents an important framework for understanding differences in cancer defenses across various species. These results suggest a trade-off between reproduction and somatic maintenance, where Aves with small clutch sizes get less cancer.","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141502101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Megan F Cole, Paige Barnes, Isabelle G Monroe, Joshua Rukundo, Melissa Emery Thompson, Alexandra G Rosati
{"title":"Age-related physiological dysregulation progresses slowly in semi-free-ranging chimpanzees.","authors":"Megan F Cole, Paige Barnes, Isabelle G Monroe, Joshua Rukundo, Melissa Emery Thompson, Alexandra G Rosati","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae010","DOIUrl":"10.1093/emph/eoae010","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background and objectives: </strong>Lifestyle has widespread effects on human health and aging. Prior results from chimpanzees (<i>Pan troglodytes</i>), one of humans' closest evolutionary relatives, indicate that these lifestyle effects may also be shared with other species, as semi-free-ranging chimpanzees fed a naturalistic diet show healthier values in several specific health biomarkers, compared with their sedentary, captive counterparts. Here, we examined how lifestyle factors associated with different environments affect rates of physiological aging in closely related chimpanzees.</p><p><strong>Methodology: </strong>We compared physiological dysregulation, an index of biological aging, in semi-free-ranging chimpanzees in an African sanctuary versus captive chimpanzees in US laboratories. If the rate of aging is accelerated by high-calorie diet and sedentism, we predicted greater age-related dysregulation in the laboratory populations. Conversely, if costs of a wild lifestyle accelerate aging, then semi-free-ranging chimpanzees at the sanctuary, whose environment better approximates the wild, should show greater age-related dysregulation. We further tested whether dysregulation differed based on sex or body system, as in humans.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found that semi-free-ranging chimpanzees showed lower overall dysregulation, as well as lower age-related change in dysregulation, than laboratory chimpanzees. Males experienced lower dysregulation than females in both contexts, and the two populations exhibited distinct aging patterns based on body system.</p><p><strong>Conclusions and implications: </strong>Our results support the conclusion that naturalistic living conditions result in healthier aging in chimpanzees. These data provide support for the proposal that lifestyle effects on human health and aging are conserved from deeper into our evolutionary history.</p>","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"12 1","pages":"129-142"},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2024-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11375048/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142139739","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Uncontrollable Mortality Risk Hypothesis: Theoretical Foundations and Implications for Public Health","authors":"Richard D Brown, Gillian V Pepper","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae009","url":null,"abstract":"The ‘Uncontrollable Mortality Risk Hypothesis’ employs a behavioural ecological model of human health behaviours to explain the presence of social gradients in health. It states that those who are more likely to die due to factors beyond their control should be less motivated to invest in preventative health behaviours. We outline the theoretical assumptions of the hypothesis and stress the importance of incorporating evolutionary perspectives into public health. We explain how measuring perceived uncontrollable mortality risk can contribute towards understanding socioeconomic disparities in preventative health behaviours. We emphasise the importance of addressing structural inequalities in risk exposure, and argue that public health interventions should consider the relationship between overall levels of mortality risk and health behaviours across domains. We suggest that measuring perceptions of uncontrollable mortality risk can capture the unanticipated health benefits of structural risk interventions, as well as help to assess the appropriateness of different intervention approaches.","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"35 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140935673","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Senolytics and cell senescence: historical and evolutionary perspectives.","authors":"Caleb E Finch","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae007","DOIUrl":"10.1093/emph/eoae007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Senolytics are a new class of anti-aging drugs developed to selectively kill 'senescent' cells that are considered harmful in normal aging. More than 20 drug trials are ongoing with diverse 'senolytic cocktails'. This commentary on recent reviews of senolytics gives a historical context of mammalian cell senescence that enabled these new drugs. While cell senescence is considered harmful to aging tissues, many studies show its essential role in some regenerative and developmental processes for which senolytic drugs may interfere. Longer-term studies of side effects are needed before senolytics are considered for general clinical practice. The wide occurrence of cell senescence in eukaryotes, yeast to fish to humans, and suggests an ancient eukaryotic process that evolved multiple phenotypes.</p>","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"12 1","pages":"82-85"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-05-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11097598/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140956951","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A multi-million-year natural experiment: comparative genomics on a massive scale and its implications for human health","authors":"Iker Rivas-González, Jenny Tung","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae006","url":null,"abstract":"Improving the diversity and quality of genome assemblies for non-human mammals has been a long-standing goal of comparative genomics. The last year saw substantial progress towards this goal, including the release of genome alignments for 240 mammals and nearly half the primate order. These resources have increased our ability to identify evolutionarily constrained regions of the genome, and together strongly support the importance of these regions to biomedically relevant trait variation in humans. They also provide new strategies for identifying the genetic basis of changes unique to individual lineages, illustrating the value of evolutionary comparative approaches for understanding human health","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140575315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Introduction to the Special Issue, Evolutionary and Biopsychosocial Perspectives on Sickness Communication","authors":"Eric C Shattuck, Chloe C Boyle","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae005","url":null,"abstract":"Here we introduce the EMPH special issue on Evolutionary and Biopsychosocial Perspectives on Sickness Communication. This Commentary provides an overview of each article and places them in the wider context of sickness as a social phenomenon with verbal and nonverbal signals. This Commentary, and the special issue in general, calls for greater attention to these signals that can affect pathogen transmission and may be at the evolutionary root of our caregiving systems and behaviors.","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"20 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140316260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Could care giving have altered the evolution of human immune strategies?","authors":"Bethany L P Gilbert, Sharon E Kessler","doi":"10.1093/emph/eoae004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/emph/eoae004","url":null,"abstract":"Absract Life history theory indicates that individuals/species with a slow pace of life invest more in acquired than innate immunity. Factors that decrease pace of life and predict greater investment in acquired immunity include increased nutritional resources, increased pathogen exposure and decreased risk of extrinsic mortality. Common care behaviours given to sick individuals produce exactly these effects: provisioning increases nutritional resources; hygiene assistance increases disease exposure of carers; and protection can reduce the risk of extrinsic mortality to sick individuals. This, study, therefore, investigated under what conditions care giving behaviours might impact immune strategy and pace of life. The study employed an agent-based model approach which simulated populations with varying levels of care giving, disease mortality, disease transmissibility, and extrinsic mortality, enabling measurements of how the immune strategy and age structure of the populations changed over evolutionary time. We used multiple regressions to examine the effects of these variables on immune strategy and the age structure of the population. The findings supported our predictions in that care selected for an acquired immunity. However, pace of life did not slow as expected. Instead, the population shifted to a faster, but also more cost intensive reproductive strategy in which care improved child survival by subsidizing the development of acquired immune responses.","PeriodicalId":12156,"journal":{"name":"Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health","volume":"85 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2024-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139584271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}