Consumer Focused Health

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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The NYtimes details the newest weapon in the fight against cancer– a $100M+ particle accelerator straight out of Star Trek, which appears to have gargantuan impact– but more to hospital bottom lines than cancer patient survival (to date, the evidence appears, well, as theoretical as the focus of this equipment to date).

Some experts say the push reflects the best and worst of the nation’s market-based health care system, which tends to pursue the latest, most expensive treatments — without much evidence of improved health — even as soaring costs add to the nation’s economic burden.

The machines accelerate protons to nearly the speed of light and shoot them into tumors. Scientists say proton beams are more precise than the X-rays now typically used for radiation therapy, meaning fewer side effects from stray radiation and, possibly, a higher cure rate.

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