Chronic Natural Occurrence of Disseminated Neoplasia in Select Populations of the Soft-Shell Clam,Mya arenaria, in New England

Neoplastic diseases of marine bivalves

“…The first report of DN in softshell clams M. arenaria corresponded to clams from Maine (USA) Barszcz, 1976, 1977). The native geographical range of M. arenaria in the western Atlantic Ocean extends along the Atlantic coast of North America from northern Labrador to Cape Hatteras, and less commonly to South Carolina; DN in softshell clams has been recorded in populations from Chesapeake Bay to Prince Edward Island (Sunila, 2003;Barber, 2004;Böttger et al, 2013).…”

“…There has been little agreement, however, as to the nature of the seasonal cycle or its cause (Brousseau and Baglivo, 1991). Seasonal trends in the prevalence of DN have been reported in oysters O. edulis (Balouet et al, 1986;da Silva et al, 2011) and O. lurida (Farley and Sparks, 1970;Farley, 1976), in mussels M. trossulus (Farley and Sparks, 1970;Farley, 1976;Mix, 1983;Cosson-Mannevy et al, 1984;Rasmussen, 1986), in clams M. arenaria (Cooper et al, 1982b;Farley et al, 1986;Brousseau, 1987a;Barber, 1990;Leavitt et al, 1990;Farley et al, 1991;Böttger et al, 2013) and M. balthica (Christensen et al, 1974;Wolowicz et al, 2005), and in cockles C. edule (Twomey and Mulcahy, 1988b;Iglesias, 2006;Le Grand et al, 2010). Fig.…”

Researching new diseases: assumptions and trajectories

“…Meanwhile, Stindl refers to the soft-shell clam cancer as "a warning example of the implications that a false theory [transmissible cancer] can have on modern biology" (Stindl 2016, 6). Böttger et al (2013) found a correlation between the frequency of the cancer in soft-shelled clams in New England and contaminated sites. These sites had elevated levels of heavy metals, PCBs, and PAHs.…”

“…Since the 1800s the soft-shelled clam has been an important commercial resource along the east coast of the USA but in the 1980s there was a dramatic decline in annual harvests (Böttger et al 2013). In Chesapeake Bay, soft-shell clams were discovered to be suffering from a suspected sarcoma, a new and fatal neoplasm not previously observed in the population (Farley et al 1986).…”

“…Little is known about the onset and distribution of fatal outbreaks of the leukemia-like cancer in populations of soft-shelled clams (Böttger et al 2013). In an early study, Farley et al noted the cancer cells had identical characteristics and stated, an "[a]ntigenic similarity between neoplastic clams in NE and Maryland suggests that target cells in the disease are the same in both areas" (Farley et al 1986, 856).…”