癌症几乎在每个物种中都会发生。然而，在整个动物界，癌症的发生率出乎意料且差异很大。癌症易感性差异的原因仍然是一个深入研究的领域。癌症的进化部分是通过突变的积累，因此，我们假设种系突变率与跨物种的癌症患病率和死亡率相关。我们收集了之前发布的 37 个脊椎动物物种的种系突变率和癌症死亡率数据。种系突变率与癌症死亡率呈正相关（P值 = 0.0008；R2 = 0.13）。控制物种的平均亲本年龄、最大寿命、成年体重或驯化并没有改善模型拟合（赤池信息准则（AIC）的变化（Δ）小于2）。然而，该模型的拟合效果优于控制物种营养水平的模型（ΔAIC > 2）。种系突变率增加的动物中癌症死亡率的增加可能表明潜在的遗传性癌症易感综合症与人类患者中诊断的相似。由于癌症发生的遗传风险增加，种系突变率较高的物种可能受益于对肿瘤的密切监测。这些物种的癌症早期诊断可能会增加它们整体生存的机会，特别是对于受威胁和濒临灭绝的物种。© 作者 2024。由牛津大学出版社代表进化、医学和公共卫生基金会出版。

Cancer develops across nearly every species. However, cancer occurs at unexpected and widely different rates throughout the animal kingdom. The reason for this variation in cancer susceptibility remains an area of intense investigation. Cancer evolves in part through the accumulation of mutations, and therefore, we hypothesized that germline mutation rates would be associated with cancer prevalence and mortality across species.We collected previously published data on germline mutation rate and cancer mortality data for 37 vertebrate species.Germline mutation rate was positively correlated with cancer mortality (P-value = 0.0008; R2 = 0.13). Controlling for species' average parental age, maximum longevity, adult body mass or domestication did not improve the model fit (the change (Δ) in Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) was less than 2). However, this model fit was better than a model controlling for species trophic level (ΔAIC > 2).The increased death rate from cancer in animals with increased germline mutation rates may suggest underlying hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes similar to those diagnosed in human patients. Species with higher germline mutation rates may benefit from close monitoring for tumors due to increased genetic risk for cancer development. Early diagnoses of cancer in these species may increase their chances of overall survival, especially for threatened and endangered species.© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Foundation for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.