Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41196351›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Divergent evolutionary dynamics of benign and malignant tumors.

George Butler, Joanna Baker, Sarah R Amend, Kenneth J Pienta, Chris Venditti

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Indirect genomic effects shape cancer risk across species.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026
    Article
  2. Review
  3. Reply to Compton et al.: Another paradoxical misunderstanding.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
  4. Divergent understandings in comparative oncology.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

George ButlerUniversity College London Cancer Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6DD, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6207-6225
Joanna BakerSchool of Biological Science, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AS, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-4904-6934
Sarah R AmendCancer Ecology Center, The Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287.ORCID 0000-0002-5606-1262
Kenneth J Pienta *Cancer Ecology Center, The Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287.ORCID 0000-0002-4138-2186
Chris Venditti *School of Biological Science, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AS, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-6776-2355

Funding

TRANSGENIC MODELS FOR PROSTATE CANCER AND AUTOIMMUNITYP50CA058236 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI NELSON, WILLIAM GEORGE · 1992 to 2020
$43.9M
HHS | NIH | National Cancer Institute (NCI) PO1CA093900 U01CA196390 P50CA058236Leverhulme Trust RL-2019-012NCI NIH HHS P50 CA058236Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund (Patrick C Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund) NAProstate Cancer Foundation (PCF) NAU.S. Department of Defense (DOD) W81XWH-22-1-0680
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Benign and malignant (cancerous) tumors differ markedly in their impact on organismal fitness, yet studies in comparative oncology rarely distinguish between them. Using a Bayesian phylogenetic framework across birds and mammals, we show that while both tumor types increase in prevalence with body mass, only the prevalence of malignant tumors is negatively associated with the rate of body size evolution-suggesting that adaptive mechanisms of cancer defense are associated with rapidly evolving lineages. Additionally, the rate of lineage diversification is positively associated with the prevalence of both tumor types in birds but not mammals, potentially reflecting differences in genome architecture and speciation dynamics. Together, these results highlight distinct macroevolutionary drivers of benign versus malignant tumor prevalence and underscore the value of treating tumor types separately in comparative oncology.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionNeoplasmsAnimalsBayes TheoremBirdsBody SizeEvolution, MolecularHumansMammalsPhylogenycancer evolutioncomparative oncologycomparative phylogenetics

Identifiers

PMID41196351
PMCPMC12625976

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.