Devil disease facial tumour

In March , scientists at the University of Tasmania presented an apparent first report of having successfully treated Tasmanian devils with the disease, by injecting live cancer cells into the infected devils to stimulate their immune system to recognise and fight the disease. Devil facial tumour disease DFTD is an aggressive non-viral clonally transmissible cancer which affects Tasmanian devils , a marsupial native to Australia. Vet Pathol 48 , — All experimental methods were performed in accordance with the University of Tasmania guidelines. To our knowledge, there is no virus involved in the spread of the disease, and direct contact between devils is necessary for the disease to spread. A comparison of the four protocols can be seen in Figs 1 — 4. Papenfuss , 10 Lynn M.