In the NY Times there is an interesting little article on the origin of a specific cancer in the marsupial known as the Tasmanian Devil. The news article is based on an article published in Science today. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/science/01devil.html?emc=eta1
Here are a few points to consider: (1) The cancer is a deadly facial cancer that has apparently killed 60% of all Tasmanian devils since it was first observed in 1996. (2) The cancer spreads from one animal to another when one animal bites another animal's face. Yes, when the cancer cells are freed from a host, they will grow/infect the new host. It is important to note that what gets transferred is not a virus but the cancerous cell itself which acts like a parasite. (3) It appears that the cancerous cells originally came from Schwann cells in the nervous system. Quoting the article: |They argue that a single Schwann cell in a single animal was |the progenitor of all the devil facial tumor disease cells. (4) Only one other case of cancer cells acting like parasite has been found: canine tansmissible veneral tumor which also appears to have a single host origin thousands of years ago. I had not heard of cancer as a parasite, that is, as a "bug" that could be gotten from another organism. I suspect that we may find more examples in the future. MORALE: Be careful about whose face you bite. Happy New Year, Y'all! -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
