All you oncologists out there should find this one interesting — an infectious cancer in Tasmanian devils that originated in a single animal’s Schwann cells and is spreading via “direct contagion” to other animals.
Cancer as parasite is an analogy I’ve been aware of, but I’ve never seen a cancer spreading between animals as a direct parasite (generally contagious spread is a result of viral hijacking causing changes in DNA that then leads to cancer).
Interesting — and potentially a disruptive way to think about cancer biology.
Scientists Report Findings on Origin of a Cancer in Tasmanian Devils – NYTimes.com.
The Tasmanian devil, the spaniel-size marsupial found on the Australian island of Tasmania, has been hurtling toward extinction in recent years, the victim of a bizarre and mysterious facial cancer that spreads like a plague.
Now Australian scientists say they have discovered how the cancer originated. The finding, being reported Friday in the journal Science, sheds light on how cancer cells can sometimes liberate themselves from the hosts where they first emerged. On a more practical level, it also opens the door to devising vaccines that could save the Tasmanian devils.
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Posted by
Vijay Goel, M.D. |
Categories:
science,
trials | Tagged:
cancer,
science |
When I was a kid, I hit my head a fair bit, including getting knocked out once at football practice. Initial care involved an evaluation, but scans weren’t the norm. Now that they’ve become increasingly common in the evaluation of head injuries in youth, have we gained much?
The Value of CT Scans in Youths Is Questioned in this study in the Lancet (article in NYTimes). continue reading »
I keep hearing about Comparative Effectiveness and how evidence needs to used in medical practice. Then I remember my days in the clinic/hospital, where complex patients presented in ways that didn’t fit textbook definitions and whose multitude of issues offered contradictory readings from the literature.
So how are we to move forward? I’m a strong believer that the best evidence needs to be used in clinical decision-making…the issue is in making this evidence usable in the field in a way that doctors can trust will be relevant to the person in front of them (as opposed to 300 carefully selected and studied patients in Finland).
So what will the new paradigm look like? My sense is the RCT will fade as consumer-focused care comes into play. If the best of science is directed to the patient sitting in front of a doctor, the goal will be to combine the information of others just like them (across multiple segments and disease phases) to predict both the natural course as well as the potential options for improvement (and their predicted results).
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