A leukemia like disease was discovered in soft shell clams (Mya arenaria), this article explains. It was found to be contagious and able to spread from clam to clam. Cancer cells somehow migrated to other clams and infected them, causing widespread disease up and down the eastern North American seashore from Canada’s Prince Edward Island to Chesapeake Bay. The researchers say that their findings suggest that transmissible cancers are more common than anyone had previously suspected.
I found this article very interesting, because the thought of cancer being transmissible is mind-blowing. I always thought cancer arisen from one's own malfunctioning, diseased, or malignant cells. If this is possible with clams in the ocean, is it possible for a cancer to be transmissible within humans?
Wow! As a marine biology major I find this very interesting. It is crazy to think that cancer can be transmitted from one individual to another. Another factor to think about is if the clams with cancer affect the people who eat them.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting but at the same time it is slightly terrifying. The bigger question is to determine why these organisms can transmit cancer and if there are any genes or reactions in the human body that can make us susceptible to this.It would be interesting to see if there was anyway to protect the body from this type of cancer.
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