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  • Perspective
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Advancing cancer research via comparative oncology

Nature Reviews Cancer volume 25, pages 740–748 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

In the ongoing battle against cancer, the natural world provides promising inspiration for designing novel therapeutic strategies. The field of comparative oncology offers a valuable source of such inspiration. By combining evolutionary biology, ecology, veterinary medicine and clinical oncology, comparative oncology aims to better understand cancer, especially by highlighting taxa that are strongly resistant or susceptible to cancer and to identify the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the remarkable cancer resistance of some taxa. Such studies hold profound implications for human cancer research and treatment, and increase the probability of detecting therapeutic avenues that are non-toxic to healthy cells and tissues. This Perspective underscores the importance of comparative oncology, emphasizes its relevance, and showcases recent breakthroughs in identifying natural cancer resistance mechanisms and opportunities for clinical translation. We advocate for a better integration of cancer research on non-conventional model species into oncology and we urge enhanced cooperation between clinicians and comparative oncologists to advance cancer prevention or treatment strategies.

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Fig. 1: Diverse cancer-resistance mechanisms of organisms across the tree of life.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for the financial support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (no. GBMF9021 to T.P.), Agence Nationale de la Recherche (COVER ANR-23-CE02-0019 to M.G.), Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine (Chaire d’excellence ‘Cancer et Biodiversité’ to M.G.); National Scientific Research Fund (OTKA K143421 to O.V.); the NIH (R01AG066544 to J.D. and U54 CA217376, U2C CA233254, R21 CA257980, R01 CA140657 to C.C.M.); US National Institute on Aging, Impetus Grant, and the Milky Way Research Foundation (to to V.G.) and the US National Institute on Aging and Hevolution Foundation (to A.S.).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Mathieu Giraudeau, Thomas Pradeu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ImmunoConcEpT, CNRS UMR 5164, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Orsolya Vincze, Benjamin Spada & Thomas Pradeu

  2. Littoral, Environnement et Sociétés, UMR 7266 CNRS La Rochelle Université, La Rochelle, France

    Orsolya Vincze & Mathieu Giraudeau

  3. Institute of Aquatic Ecology, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Debrecen, Hungary

    Orsolya Vincze

  4. Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, BabeÅŸ-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

    Orsolya Vincze

  5. Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California–Berkeley, Berkeley, USA

    David Bilder

  6. Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Alex Cagan

  7. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO, USA

    James DeGregori

  8. Department of Biology and Medicine, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Vera Gorbunova & Andrei Seluanov

  9. Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Biodesign Institute and School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Carlo C. Maley

  10. Peel Therapeutics, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Joshua D. Schiffman

  11. Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA

    Joshua D. Schiffman

  12. Presidential Fellow, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA

    Thomas Pradeu

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  1. Orsolya Vincze
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Contributions

All authors researched data for the article. O.V., D.B., A.C., J.D., V.G., C.C.M., J.D.S., A.S., M.G. and T.P. contributed substantially to discussion of the content. All authors wrote the article. O.V., D.B., A.C., J.D., V.G., C.C.M., J.D.S., A.S., M.G. and T.P. reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Orsolya Vincze or Thomas Pradeu.

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J.D.S. reports being a cofounder and shareholder of Peel Therapeutics outside the submitted work. All other authors declare no competing interests.

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Vincze, O., Spada, B., Bilder, D. et al. Advancing cancer research via comparative oncology. Nat Rev Cancer 25, 740–748 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-025-00841-8

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