2012/06/16 by Janine E. Deakin, Katherine Belov · 22 citations
Medicine · Immunology and Microbiology · Veterinary · #Veterinary Oncology Research #Microbial infections and disease research #Infectious Diseases and Mycology #Biology #Chromothripsis #Cancer #Genomics #Marsupial #Carcinogenesis #Disease #Genome #Comparative genomics #Evolutionary biology #Genetics #Computational biology #Gene #Genome instability #Zoology #Medicine #Pathology
paper · doi:10.1146/annurev-genom-090711-163852
published in Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics 13(1), 207-222 (Annual Reviews)
openalex publication_date 2012/06/16 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15
A fatal contagious cancer is driving an entire species to extinction. Comparative genomics will unravel the origin and evolution of devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). The DFTD allograft arose from a Schwann cell in a female Tasmanian devil more than 15 years ago; since then, the tumor has passed through at least 100,000 hosts, evolving and mutating along the way. Tumor genome sequencing and molecular cytogenetic technologies now allow direct comparisons of candidate genes involved in tumorigenesis in human cancers. As a stable transmissible cancer, DFTD provides unique insights into cancer development, progression, and immune evasion and is likely to help increase our understanding of human cancer. In addition, these studies provide hope for discoveries of drug targets or vaccine candidates that will prevent the extinction of this iconic Australian marsupial.