Endangered Tasmanian devils may find salvation in human cancer drugs
SCIENTISTS have expressed hope for the future of the endangered Tasmanian devil after research indicated human drugs could cure the cancers that are devastating the species.
The marsupial carnivores are believed to have suffered an 80 per cent decline in numbers since the midnineties, with only around 10,00015,000 left in the wild. This is mainly because the animals are susceptible to two of the tiny handful of transmissible cancers known in nature, which are passed between the animals when they bite each other.
A team at Cambridge University has now established that these facial tumours, known as DFT1 and DFT2, contain a receptor molecule, RTK, which oncologists already know how to target via human cancer drugs.
The drugs were applied to samples of the tumours in the lab where they were shown to stop the cancerous growth. The diseases can also develop naturally in devils who have not been bitten.
Published in the journal Cancer Cell, the study opens the possibility that the rapid decline of Tasmanian devils may be halted. The DFT1 cancer first arose in a single individual devil several decades ago, and the cancer survived by metastasising into different devils. It means the DNA of the devils’ tumour cells is not their own, but rather belongs to the individual devil that gave rise to DFT1 all those years ago. The cells can escape the devils’ immune systems despite being, in essence, a foreign body.
“The story of Tasmanian devils has been a very concerning one,” said Dr Elizabeth Murchison, who led the project. “This study gives us optimism that anti-cancer drugs in use in humans may offer a chance to assist with conservation efforts for this iconic animal.”
She said the drug, yet to be trialled in live animals with the disease, could potentially allow conservationists to treat infected devils, which could then be released into disease-free enclaves in Tasmania.