Editorial: Parasites and Cancer

• Autor(a) principal: Botelho, Monica C.
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Richter, Joachim
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/6484
• topic: Cancer-associated Parasites; Echicococcus granulosus; Fasciola hepatica; Opisthorchis viverrini; Schistosoma haematobium; Theileria; Bladder Cancer; Cholangiocarcinoma

Emerging evidence indicates that certain parasites such as the blood fluke Schistosoma haematobium, and small liver flukes Opisthorchis viverrini and Clonorchis sinensis are causative agents of malignancies such as bladder cancer caused bv schistosomes and cholangiocarcinoma by liver flukes. In many endemic regions these helminths are responsible for the majority of cancer cases. Parasites, other than helminths, are also associated with cancers, such as Theileria, an intracellular eukaryotic parasite. On the contrary, some parasite infections or molecules seem to display protective effects on some cancers, such as is the case with Echinococcus. Therefore, understanding how these parasites cause/promote or hinder oncogenesis in humans will aid to develop novel strategies for controlling the parasitosis and for preventing and treating the infection-associated malignancy. The Infectious Diseases—Surveillance, Prevention, and Treatment section of the journal Frontiers in Medicine, in partnership with the journal Frontiers in Public Health, hosted the first Research Topic on Parasites and Cancer with the aim to facilitate global parasites infectionassociated cancer elimination through scientific advances. Nearly 40 authors, representatives from Australia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Germany, Portugal, United States, and Thailand, participated in this Research Topic covering all continents of the world. Some of these authors are the most cited in the field of parasites and cancer: Ross H. Andrews, Paul Brindley, Michael H. Hsieh, Alex Loukas, Donald McManus, Trevor N. Petney, Paiboon Sithithaworn, and Puangrat Yongvanit. (...)