Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41568177›Full record

ArticleEvolution, medicine, and public health2026

Leveraging comparative phylogenetics for evolutionary medicine: applications to comparative oncology.

Walker J Compton Mellon, Beckett Sterner, J Arvid Ågren, Orsolya Vincze, Matthew Marx, Stefania Kapsetaki, Ping-Han Huang, Bryan Yavari, Hunter W McCollum, B Natterson-Horowitz and 7 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Evolution, medicine, and public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Resolving competing evolutionary histories in joint ancestral state reconstruction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Walker J Compton MellonArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Beckett SternerSchool of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
J Arvid ÅgrenLerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3619-556X
Orsolya VinczeInstitute of Aquatic Ecology, Centre for Ecological Research, Debrecen, Hungary.
Matthew MarxArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Stefania KapsetakiArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9999-8573
Ping-Han HuangSchool of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Bryan YavariArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Hunter W McCollumIndiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
B Natterson-HorowitzDepartment of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6145-9689
Hannah HumanArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Cristina BaciuArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Harley RichkerArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Diego MalloArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Carlo C MaleyArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0745-7076
Luke HarmonDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Russia.
Zachary T ComptonArizona Cancer Evolution Center, The Biodesign Institute, Tempe, AZ, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0558-2316

Funding

The Role of the Microbiome in Cancer Suppression and Susceptibility Across SpeciesU54CA217376 · NCI · ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY-TEMPE CAMPUS · PI MALEY, CARLO · 2018 to 2022
$8.6M
Modeling Neoplastic Progression in Barrett's Esophagus - Renewal -2R01CA140657 · NCI · WISTAR INSTITUTE · PI Carlo Maley · 2009 to 2026
$5.0M
T32 Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program Addressing Health DisparitiesT32CA272303 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA · PI Terry A Badger, Gloria D. Coronado · 2023 to 2026
$1.1M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA140657NCI NIH HHS T32 CA272303NCI NIH HHS U54 CA217376
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Comparative phylogenetics provides a wealth of computational tools to understand evolutionary processes and their outcomes. Advances in these methodologies have occurred in parallel with a surge in cross-species genomic and phenotypic data. To date, however, the majority of published studies have focused on classical questions in evolutionary biology, such as speciation and the ecological drivers of trait evolution. Here, we argue that evolutionary medicine in general, and our understanding of the origin and diversification of disease traits in particular, would be greatly expanded by a wider integration of phylogenetic comparative methods (PCMs). We use comparative oncology-the study of cancer across the tree of life-as an example to demonstrate the power of the approach and show that implementing PCMs can highlight the mode and tempo of the evolutionary changes in intrinsic, species-level disease vulnerabilities.

Indexed as

bioinformaticsevolutionary biologyevolutionary medicinephylogeneticsstatistical modeling

Identifiers

PMID41568177
PMCPMC12817213

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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 OpenQuestion graph.