Perspectives for the development of therapeutic Tasmanian devil facial tumor diseases

Abstract

The Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease is an emergent transmissible cancer. The Tasmanian devil is the only unextinct member of the genus, and now only lives in Tasmania, Australia, and is known as the "Tasmanian Devil". Tasmanian devil facial neoplasia is a contagious cancer. Since 1996, the disease has been afflicting in Tasmanian devils. In 2006, scientists looked at the cancer cell chromosomes of Tasmanian devils and found that the cancer could be transmitted through bites between Tasmanian devils. It has two different types of DFT, including DFT1 and DFT2. Since the trend of extinction was discovered in 2009, researchers have tried to find a way to save the animal. The knowledge about the tumor and the devil is also learned deeper. Vaccination, including prophylactic vaccine and therapeutic vaccine, is one of the possible solutions. The vaccine technology has been developing rapidly since the last century and has already cured or stopped the expression of some deadly diseases both in humans and animals. Introduction of common vaccine technology will be made and their potential application in DFTD will be discussed in this passage. This review introduces the current research status of vaccine& other therapy development for Tasmanian devil facial tumor disease and summarizes the current problems and solutions in this research field. Although the species is facing great danger of extinction, not enough experiments and clinical trials have been carried out to find a way of saving it.