Although transmissible cancers have, so far, only been documented in three independent animal groups, they not only impact animals that have high economic, environmental and social significance, but they are also one of the most virulent parasitic life forms. Currently known transmissible cancers traverse terrestrial and marine environments, and are predicted to be more widely distributed across animal groups; thus, the implementation of effective collaborative scientific networks is important for combating existing and emerging forms. Here, we quantify how collaborative effort on the three known transmissible cancers has advanced through the formation of collaborative networks among institutions and disciplines. These three cancers occur in bivalves (invertebrates—disseminated neoplasia; DN), Tasmanian devils (vertebrate—marsupial; devil facial tumour disease; DFTD) and dogs (vertebrate—eutherian mammal; canine transmissible venereal tumour; CTVT). Research on CTVT and DN has been conducted since 1876 and 1969, respectively, whereas systematic research on DFTD only started in 2006. Yet, collaborative effort on all three diseases is global, encompassing six major Scopus subject areas. Collaborations steadily increased between 1963 and 2006 for CTVT and DN, with similar acceleration for all three cancers since 2006. Network analyses demonstrated that scientists are organizing themselves into efficient collaborative networks; however, these networks appear to be far stronger for DFTD and DN, possibly due to the recent detection of new strains adding impetus to research and associated publications (enhancing citation trajectories). In particular, global and multidisciplinary collaborations formed almost immediately after DFTD research was initiated, leading to similar research effort and relatively greater research outputs compared to the other two diseases. Therefore, in the event of outbreaks of new lineages of existing transmissible cancers, or the discovery of new transmissible cancers in the future, the rapid formation of international collaborations spanning relevant disciplines is vital for the efficient management of these diseases.

中文翻译：

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过去50年来有关可传播癌症的多学科和国际合作的全球荟萃分析

尽管到目前为止，可传播的癌症仅在三个独立的动物组中得到了证明，但它们不仅影响具有高度经济，环境和社会意义的动物，而且还是最致命的寄生生物之一。当前已知的可传播癌症遍及陆地和海洋环境，并且预计将在动物群中更广泛地分布。因此，有效的合作科学网络的实施对于打击现有和新兴形式很重要。在这里，我们通过建立机构和学科之间的协作网络来量化在三种已知的可传播癌症上的协作努力如何取得进展。这三种癌症分别发生在双壳类动物（无脊椎动物-扩散性瘤； DN），塔斯马尼亚恶魔（脊椎动物-有袋动物；无脊椎动物）。恶魔面部肿瘤病; DFTD）和狗（脊椎动物-真人哺乳动物；犬可传播的性病； CTVT）。关于CTVT和DN的研究分别于1876年和1969年进行，而有关DFTD的系统研究直到2006年才开始。然而，针对这三种疾病的合作是全球性的，涵盖了六个Scopus主题领域。1963年至2006年间，CTVT和DN的合作稳步增长，自2006年以来，所有三种癌症的合作加速。但是，对于DFTD和DN，这些网络似乎要强大得多，这可能是由于最近发现了新菌株，为研究和相关出版物（增强了引文轨迹）提供了动力。尤其是，在DFTD研究启动后，几乎立即就形成了全球和多学科合作，与其他两种疾病相比，导致类似的研究工作和相对更大的研究成果。因此，如果爆发了现有可传播癌症的新谱系，或者将来发现了新的可传播癌症，那么跨越相关学科的国际合作的迅速形成对于有效管理这些疾病至关重要。