[HN Gopher] The Details Are in the Devil's Tumors
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       The Details Are in the Devil's Tumors
        
       Author : Petiver
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2023-10-05 20:44 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (hakaimagazine.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (hakaimagazine.com)
        
       | Night_Thastus wrote:
       | It's amazing to me how much effort is being put into saving these
       | animals. There's no (immediate) benefit to us. They aren't raised
       | for meat, fur or other products. They aren't working animals.
       | They aren't pets.
       | 
       | Sure, it's possible that this research may one day assist humans
       | with cancer, but that is a speculation and not known in advance -
       | it could be useless for that cause.
       | 
       | People are just doing it because they care.
       | 
       | It's also wild to me that cancer can be spread at all. They
       | mentioned biting, but is there any other way they can transfer it
       | between individuals? I can't imagine it's airborne or waterborne.
        
         | ignite2 wrote:
         | What is absolutely insane about this disease is the Tasmanian
         | devils that have this do NOT have cancer in the way you'd think
         | about. They have an invasive parasite.
         | 
         | So, my understanding (layman who reads about these things), is
         | that, long ago, one particular Tasmanian devil got cancer. This
         | devil bit another and transferred some cells, which grew on the
         | recipient. Note that these cells belong to the original donor.
         | ALL of these cells, on all of the affected devils, genetically
         | belong to the donor. It's literally a separate parasitic life
         | form that reproduces parthenogenetically. Like "Henrietta
         | Lacks", the cells are still alive, long after the original
         | being is gone.
         | 
         | So, none of the recipients cells has cancer. They have someone
         | else's cancer living on them!
        
         | vGPU wrote:
         | They were treated and hunted as pest animals for a while, so
         | that didn't help.
        
       | PBnFlash wrote:
       | I found it weird how they didn't mention that the other
       | transmissible cancer was. They are probably referring to golden
       | hamsters, but according to Wikipedia there are three animals that
       | have transmissible tumors like this so 2/4 for the devils.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonally_transmissible_cancer
        
         | NoMoreNicksLeft wrote:
         | Well, don't forget how sometimes if you're HIV+ you can get
         | tapeworm cancer.
        
           | vGPU wrote:
           | And cancer from viruses too!
        
             | TestingTest5 wrote:
             | I really wish I was not aware of this being a thing. The
             | more you learn :(
        
         | ignite2 wrote:
         | The other species I usually see mentioned in articles about
         | this is dogs.
         | 
         | https://www.tcg.vet.cam.ac.uk/about
        
       | pfdietz wrote:
       | I wonder if it would be possible to artificially introduce
       | genetic diversity in the species, so any individual transmissible
       | cancer would seem more alien (and more immunogenic) to most of
       | the population.
        
       | 3seashells wrote:
       | Plz let the Tasmanien devil have no place in tcm.
        
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       (page generated 2023-10-06 23:02 UTC)