Evolved dependence is a process through which one species becomes ‘dependent’ on another following a long evolutionary history of interaction. This happens when adaptations selected in the first species for interacting lead to fitness costs when the second species is not encountered. Evolved dependence is frequent in host–parasite interactions, where hosts may achieve a higher fitness in the presence of the parasite than in its absence. Since oncogenic manifestations are (i) ubiquitous across multicellular life, (ii) involved in parasitic-like interactions with their hosts, and (iii) have effectively driven the selection of numerous adaptations, it is possible that multicellular organisms display evolved dependence in response to oncogenic processes. We provide a comprehensive overview of the topic, including the implications for cancer prevention and treatment.

进化的依赖性是一个过程，在长期的相互作用历史中，一个物种就变得“依赖”另一物种。当在第一个物种中选择的用于交互的适应导致在不遇到第二个物种时导致适应性成本时，就会发生这种情况。在寄主与寄生虫的相互作用中，进化的依赖性很常见，在寄主存在下，寄主可能比在没有寄主的情况下具有更高的适应性。由于致癌性表现是（i）在多细胞生活中无处不在，（ii）参与与其宿主的寄生虫样相互作用，并且（iii）有效地驱动了多种适应症的选择，因此多细胞生物有可能表现出进化的依赖性以应对致癌过程。我们提供有关该主题的全面概述，