[www.nytimes.com]

"To trace the origin of the tumors, the scientists looked at individual cancer cells, recording which genes were active. They found a set of genes normally active only in a type of nerve cell known as Schwann cells. They argue that a single Schwann cell in a single animal was the progenitor of all the devil facial tumor disease cells."


"Scientists have found only one other case in which cancer cells naturally spread like parasites, a disease in dogs known as canine transmissible venereal tumor. Comparisons of tumors collected from dogs around the world indicate that they descend from a single ancestral cell that existed several thousand years ago. Ever since, the tumor cells have evolved to move among hosts and avoid their immune systems."

Infectious cancer poses a puzzle for biologists. “It is somehow a new organism,” Dr. Pappenfuss said. “I think of it as a parasite.”

"Dr. Pappenfuss and his colleagues are now studying how the tumor cells have evolved from Schwann cells into such successful parasites. Their research may help in the development of a vaccine that could prime Tasmanian devils to fight invading cancer cells."


So comes the real problem; how to catch and immunize the whole population. Unless the immunity can be inherited, a single infected individual could spread the cancer to the next generation.

"The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the Oil Age will end long before the world runs out of oil"

-- Sheikh Zaki Yamani