Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2016; 22(24): 5479-5494
Published online Jun 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i24.5479
Avoiding hepatic metastasis naturally: Lessons from the cotton top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus)
Martin Tobi, Peter Thomas, Daniel Ezekwudo
Martin Tobi, Department of Surgery, Aleda E. Lutz VAMC, Saginaw, MI 48601, United States
Martin Tobi, Daniel Ezekwudo, Internal Medicine Disciplines, Central Michigan University College of Medicine, Saginaw, MI 48601, United States
Peter Thomas, Department of Surgery, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE 68178, United States
Author contributions: All authors participated equally in all aspects of this review.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest related to the manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Martin Tobi, MB, ChB, Department of Surgery, Aleda E. Lutz VAMC, 1500 Weiss Street, Saginaw, MI 48601, United States. martin.tobi@va.gov
Telephone: +1-989-4972500-13934 Fax: +1-989-32114946
Received: March 22, 2016
Peer-review started: March 22, 2016
First decision: April 14, 2016
Revised: April 26, 2016
Accepted: May 21, 2016
Article in press: May 23, 2016
Published online: June 28, 2016
Processing time: 91 Days and 9.8 Hours
Abstract

Much has been written about hepatic metastasis and animal models abound. In terms of the human experience, progress in treating this final common pathway, a terminal event of many human malignancies has been relatively slow. The current thinking is that primary prevention is best served by early detection of cancer and eradication of early stage cancers by screening. Some cancers spread early in their course and the role of screening may be limited. Until relatively recently there has not been a pathfinder model that makes the evasion of this unfortunate event a reality. This review discusses such an animal model and attempts to relate it to human disease in terms of intervention. Concrete proposals are also offered on how scientists may be able to intervene to prevent this deadly progression of the cancer process.

Keywords: Cotton top tamarin; Hepatic metastasis; Carcinoembryonic antigen; Fibulin-5; Common marmoset

Core tip: Hepatic metastasis is a terminal event. Avoiding this complication would prolong life and current understanding of inflammatory mediators allows possible secondary intervention. The cotton top tamarin (CTT), like humans develops inflammatory bowel disease complicated by colorectal cancer but avoids liver metastasis. We suggest 5 mechanisms by which CTT avoid liver spread. They involve changes in ICAMs and their receptors, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) family mediators of angiogenesis, post translational modifications of molecules like CEA, and increased expression of anti-proliferative agents such as fibulins. This changes our perception from “monkey see, monkey do” to “see what the monkeys do and do the same”. Possible avenues of intervention are suggested.