Think of an infectious disease. What comes to mind? A viral infection like influenza? Or a bacterial illness like cholera? Maybe some of you thought of a fungal pathogen or a parasite. But how many of you thought of a cancer? In this episode, we explore the bizarre, stranger than fiction story of devil facial tumor disease (DFTD), a transmissible cancer that has devastated Tasmanian devil populations over the past few decades. And when we say transmissible cancer, we don’t mean a cancer caused by a virus – we mean the cancer itself is transmissible. How is that possible? What does it do to the devils? What are Tasmanian devils like? What role do they play in the ecosystem? What does the future hold for these adorable creatures? Tune in for a lively discussion all about these devils and their disease, featuring Dr. Rodrigo Hamede, Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania and DFTD expert. This episode will have you looking up pictures of baby devils, listening to their wide range of sounds, and rethinking the lines between contagious and non-contagious disease.
| History | Biology |
| Owen, David, and David Pemberton. Tasmanian devil: a unique and threatened animal. Allen & Unwin, 2005. | Hawkins, C.E., Baars, C., Hesterman, H., Hocking, G.J., Jones, M.E., Lazenby, B., Mann, D., Mooney, N., Pemberton, D., Pyecroft, S. and Restani, M., 2006. Emerging disease and population decline of an island endemic, the Tasmanian devil Sarcophilus harrisii. Biological Conservation, 131(2), pp.307-324. |
| Jones, MENNA E., et al. “Emergence, transmission and evolution of an uncommon enemy: Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease.” Wildlife Disease Ecology: Linking Theory to Data and Application (2019): 321. | Siddle, H.V., Kreiss, A., Tovar, C., Yuen, C.K., Cheng, Y., Belov, K., Swift, K., Pearse, A.M., Hamede, R., Jones, M.E. and Skjødt, K., 2013. Reversible epigenetic down-regulation of MHC molecules by devil facial tumour disease illustrates immune escape by a contagious cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(13), pp.5103-5108. |
| Stammnitz, Maximilian R., et al. “The evolution of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils.” Science 380.6642 (2023): 283-293. | McCallum, H., Jones, M., Hawkins, C., Hamede, R., Lachish, S., Sinn, D.L., Beeton, N. and Lazenby, B., 2009. Transmission dynamics of Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease may lead to disease‐induced extinction. Ecology, 90(12), pp.3379-3392. |
| Pye, R., Hamede, R., Siddle, H.V., Caldwell, A., Knowles, G.W., Swift, K., Kreiss, A., Jones, M.E., Lyons, A.B. and Woods, G.M., 2016. Demonstration of immune responses against devil facial tumour disease in wild Tasmanian devils. Biology letters, 12(10), p.20160553. | |
| Welsh, J.S., 2011. Contagious cancer. The oncologist, 16(1), pp.1-4. | |
| Woods, G.M., Howson, L.J., Brown, G.K., Tovar, C., Kreiss, A., Corcoran, L.M. and Lyons, A.B., 2015. Immunology of a transmissible cancer spreading among Tasmanian devils. The Journal of Immunology, 195(1), pp.23-29. | |
| Hamede Ross, R., McCallum, H.I. and Jones, M., 2013. Biting injuries and transmission of Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease. | |
| Wells, K., Hamede, R.K., Kerlin, D.H., Storfer, A., Hohenlohe, P.A., Jones, M.E. and McCallum, H.I., 2017. Infection of the fittest: devil facial tumour disease has greatest effect on individuals with highest reproductive output. Ecology Letters, 20(6), pp.770-778. | |
| Stammnitz, M.R., Gori, K., Kwon, Y.M., Harry, E., Martin, F.J., Billis, K., Cheng, Y., Baez-Ortega, A., Chow, W., Comte, S. and Eggertsson, H., 2023. The evolution of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils. Science, 380(6642), pp.283-293. | |
| Murchison, E.P., Tovar, C., Hsu, A., Bender, H.S., Kheradpour, P., Rebbeck, C.A., Obendorf, D., Conlan, C., Bahlo, M., Blizzard, C.A. and Pyecroft, S., 2010. The Tasmanian devil transcriptome reveals Schwann cell origins of a clonally transmissible cancer. Science, 327(5961), pp.84-87. | |
| Hamede, R., Fountain‐Jones, N.M., Arce, F., Jones, M., Storfer, A., Hohenlohe, P.A., McCallum, H., Roche, B., Ujvari, B. and Thomas, F., 2023. The tumour is in the detail: Local phylogenetic, population and epidemiological dynamics of a transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils. Evolutionary Applications, 16(7), pp.1316-1327. | |
| Stammnitz, M.R., Gori, K. and Murchison, E.P., 2024. No evidence that a transmissible cancer has shifted from emergence to endemism in Tasmanian devils. Royal Society Open Science, 11(4), p.231875. [ in response to: Patton, A.H., Lawrance, M.F., Margres, M.J., Kozakiewicz, C.P., Hamede, R., Ruiz-Aravena, M., Hamilton, D.G., Comte, S., Ricci, L.E., Taylor, R.L. and Stadler, T., 2020. A transmissible cancer shifts from emergence to endemism in Tasmanian devils. Science, 370(6522), p.eabb9772. | |
| Margres, M.J., Ruiz-Aravena, M., Hamede, R., Chawla, K., Patton, A.H., Lawrance, M.F., Fraik, A.K., Stahlke, A.R., Davis, B.W., Ostrander, E.A. and Jones, M.E., 2020. Spontaneous tumor regression in Tasmanian devils associated with RASL11A activation. Genetics, 215(4), pp.1143-1152. | |
| Kwon, Y.M., Gori, K., Park, N., Potts, N., Swift, K., Wang, J., Stammnitz, M.R., Cannell, N., Baez-Ortega, A., Comte, S. and Fox, S., 2020. Evolution and lineage dynamics of a transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils. PLoS Biology, 18(11), p.e3000926. |
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One thought on “Episode 147 Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor Disease: Sympathy for the Devil”
I have to say, when you were describing the physical traits of the Tasmanian Devil, Looney Tunes’ Taz came to mind–disproportional head to body, large powerful jaws, fatty tail…just sayin’
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