Getting to Understand Devil Facial Tumor Disease

Researchers are working hard to understand Devil Facial Tumor Disease, a fatal condition in Tasmanian Devils.This is a rare but highly contagious facial tumour which can spread between the devils through biting.

Their quest led them to perform skin grafts from several devils to ascertain whether low-genetic diversity in the species made them prone to cancer.

Immune Response and Balance Regulated by Tumor Suppressor Protein
A key immune system regulator, a protein that serves as a gatekeeper in the white blood cells that produce the troops to battle specific infections has been identified

During this exercise, researchers found that Devils’ immune system rejected the skin grafts, showing that the genetic diversity was much more than what was expected.

"We know that the devil has a lack of genetic diversity, so our hypothesis was that there's insufficient diversity for devils to recognize foreign tissue. So if that lack of diversity was really severe you would not get rejection of the graft. The graft was rejected nicely showing that devils do have enough diversity to recognize foreign tissue,” researchers said.

What Makes the Most Lethal Brain Tumor So Lethal?
A new study has offered a novel way to determine what biological functions go awry when-Glioblastoma-the most common and most lethal form of brain tumor in people first begins to form.

Source-Medindia

New Brain Tumor Treatment Possible With Pathway Discovery
A cellular pathway that cancer stem cells use to promote tumour growth in malignant glioma, an aggressive brain tumour, has been identified by Cleveland Clinic researchers.

Stem Cells may Help Regain Memory
Stem cells can be used to restore the cognitive disbilites in brain cancer patients, shows new research. Brain cancer patients lose their learning and memory abilities due to radiation treatment.