Differences on the level of hepatic transcriptome between two flatfish species in response to liver cancer and environmental pollution levels

Comp Biochem Physiol C Toxicol Pharmacol. 2023 Nov 3;275:109781. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpc.2023.109781. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTEnvironmental factors can cause cancer in both wild animals and humans. In ecological settings, genetic variation and natural selection can sometimes produce resilience to the negative impacts of environmental change. An increase in oncogenic substances in natural habitats has therefore, unintentionally, created opportunities for using polluted habitats to study cancer defence mechanisms. The Baltic and North Sea are among the most contaminated marine areas, with a long history of pollution. Two flatfish species (flounder, Platichthys flesus and dab, Limanda limanda) are used as ecotoxicological indicator species due to pollution-induced liver cancer. Cancer is more prevalent in dab, suggesting species-specific differences in vulnerability and/or defence mechanisms. We conducted gene expression analyses for 30 flatfishes. We characterize between- and within-species patterns in potential cancer-related mechanisms. By comparing cancerous and healthy fishes, and non-cancerous fishes from clean and polluted sites, we suggest also genes and related physiological mechanisms that could contribute to a higher resistance to pollution-induced cancer in flounders. We discovered changes in transcriptome related to elevated pollutant metabolism, alongside greater tumour suppression mechanisms in the liver tissue of flounders compared to dabs. This suggests either...
Source: Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Toxicology and pharmacology : CBP - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Source Type: research