Bizarre cancer imperils Tasmanian Devils

A BIZARRE infectious cancer seems to be the cause of the fatal facial tumours that are wiping out Tasmanian devils, the world's largest surviving carnivorous marsupial. The disease, which has killed at least a third of the wild population since the mid-1990s, had now infected devils across more than half the island.

Early analysis of the tumours suggested that the animals may be passing on cancerous cells during fights . . .

[Further testing has shown that the tumors] were genetically identical whatever their stage of development, suggesting they did not arise in the animals' own tissue. "The cancerous cell line is leading a sort of independent existence," Pearse says. . .

The only other known example of a similar "allograft" tumour disease, transmitted by direct transfer, is of a venereal sarcoma that is passed between dogs while mating.

From New Scientist. The BBC adds:

The only other such cancer has occurred in dogs but, unlike the devils' disease, it could be overcome by the canine immune system.

The authors suggest that close kinship and low genetic diversity among Tasmanian devils reduces their immune response to transplanted cancer cells, making it more likely that they will take hold.

A vaccine is being talked about, but would clearly be some ways off.

Posted by David on February 3, 2006 8:26 AM