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Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study?
Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are vectors of pathogens and parasites of great medical and veterinary relevance. The possible association between mosquitoes, infectious diseases, and cancer has been investigated. Despite its potential importance, there is a severe lack of research data on the topic...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2019
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6926606/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234859 |
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author | Brisola Marcondes, Carlos Benelli, Giovanni |
author_facet | Brisola Marcondes, Carlos Benelli, Giovanni |
author_sort | Brisola Marcondes, Carlos |
collection | PubMed |
description | Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are vectors of pathogens and parasites of great medical and veterinary relevance. The possible association between mosquitoes, infectious diseases, and cancer has been investigated. Despite its potential importance, there is a severe lack of research data on the topic. Herein, current knowledge, tenuous links, and related challenges on the topic were examined, grouping information under four major hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that the infection of mosquito-vectored parasites, with special reference to Plasmodium spp., may lead to cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer stated that being infected by Plasmodium falciparum malaria in holoendemic areas is probably carcinogenic to humans (group 2A), considering that P. falciparum infection is able to reactivate the Epstein–Barr virus, leading to endemic Burkitt lymphoma. Also, malaria was recently associated with a cancer incidence increase in the United States. The second hypothesis is that cancer may be spread directly through mosquito bites: Aedes mosquitoes transfer viable tumor cells among vertebrate hosts, even if no plausible mechanisms for these cells to develop cancer into the new host are known. As the third hypothesis, mosquito bites may lead to hypersensitivity, resulting in cancer. Hypersensitivity stimulated by mosquito bites links allergy, oncogenesis, and the Epstein–Barr virus, causing Burkitt lymphoma. One may argue that pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes, such as viruses, may be carcinogenic. However, no detailed research evidences are available to substantiate this last hypothesis. However, despite the intriguing hypotheses outlined above, there is a severe lack of data showing cancer development in organisms exposed to mosquitoes transmitting parasites or pathogens. According to One Health criteria, this benchmark is aimed to outline major questions on this public health issue, stressing the need of multidisciplinary research and discussion. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6926606 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2019 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-69266062019-12-24 Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? Brisola Marcondes, Carlos Benelli, Giovanni Int J Environ Res Public Health Benchmark Mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) are vectors of pathogens and parasites of great medical and veterinary relevance. The possible association between mosquitoes, infectious diseases, and cancer has been investigated. Despite its potential importance, there is a severe lack of research data on the topic. Herein, current knowledge, tenuous links, and related challenges on the topic were examined, grouping information under four major hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that the infection of mosquito-vectored parasites, with special reference to Plasmodium spp., may lead to cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer stated that being infected by Plasmodium falciparum malaria in holoendemic areas is probably carcinogenic to humans (group 2A), considering that P. falciparum infection is able to reactivate the Epstein–Barr virus, leading to endemic Burkitt lymphoma. Also, malaria was recently associated with a cancer incidence increase in the United States. The second hypothesis is that cancer may be spread directly through mosquito bites: Aedes mosquitoes transfer viable tumor cells among vertebrate hosts, even if no plausible mechanisms for these cells to develop cancer into the new host are known. As the third hypothesis, mosquito bites may lead to hypersensitivity, resulting in cancer. Hypersensitivity stimulated by mosquito bites links allergy, oncogenesis, and the Epstein–Barr virus, causing Burkitt lymphoma. One may argue that pathogens transmitted by mosquitoes, such as viruses, may be carcinogenic. However, no detailed research evidences are available to substantiate this last hypothesis. However, despite the intriguing hypotheses outlined above, there is a severe lack of data showing cancer development in organisms exposed to mosquitoes transmitting parasites or pathogens. According to One Health criteria, this benchmark is aimed to outline major questions on this public health issue, stressing the need of multidisciplinary research and discussion. MDPI 2019-12-03 2019-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6926606/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234859 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Benchmark Brisola Marcondes, Carlos Benelli, Giovanni Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? |
title | Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? |
title_full | Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? |
title_fullStr | Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? |
title_full_unstemmed | Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? |
title_short | Mosquitoes, Infectious Diseases, and Cancer: A Connection to Study? |
title_sort | mosquitoes, infectious diseases, and cancer: a connection to study? |
topic | Benchmark |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6926606/ http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16234859 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT brisolamarcondescarlos mosquitoesinfectiousdiseasesandcanceraconnectiontostudy AT benelligiovanni mosquitoesinfectiousdiseasesandcanceraconnectiontostudy |