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Natural Killer Cell Mediated Cytotoxic Responses in the Tasmanian Devil
Citation
Brown, GK and Kreiss, A and Lyons, AB and Woods, GM, Natural Killer Cell Mediated Cytotoxic Responses in the Tasmanian Devil, PL o S One , 6, (9) Article e24475. ISSN 1932-6203 (2011) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright: © 2011 Brown et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
DOI: doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024475
Abstract
The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), the world’s largest marsupial carnivore, is under threat of extinction following the
emergence of an infectious cancer. Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) is spread between Tasmanian devils during biting.
The disease is consistently fatal and devils succumb without developing a protective immune response. The aim of this
study was to determine if Tasmanian devils were capable of forming cytotoxic antitumour responses and develop
antibodies against DFTD cells and foreign tumour cells. The two Tasmanian devils immunised with irradiated DFTD cells did
not form cytotoxic or humoral responses against DFTD cells, even after multiple immunisations. However, following
immunisation with xenogenic K562 cells, devils did produce cytotoxic responses and antibodies against this foreign tumour
cell line. The cytotoxicity appeared to occur through the activity of natural killer (NK) cells in an antibody dependent
manner. Classical NK cell responses, such as innate killing of DFTD and foreign cancer cells, were not observed. Cells with an
NK-like phenotype comprised approximately 4 percent of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The results of this study
suggest that Tasmanian devils have NK cells with functional cytotoxic pathways. Although devil NK cells do not directly
recognise DFTD cancer cells, the development of antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity presents a potential
pathway to induce cytotoxic responses against the disease. These findings have positive implications for future DFTD
vaccine research.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Research Division: | Medical and Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Immunology |
| Research Field: | Cellular Immunology |
| Objective Division: | Environment |
| Objective Group: | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity |
| Objective Field: | Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity at Regional or Larger Scales |
| UTAS Author: | Brown, GK (Ms Gabriella Brown) |
| UTAS Author: | Kreiss, A (Dr Alexandre Kreiss) |
| UTAS Author: | Lyons, AB (Associate Professor Bruce Lyons) |
| UTAS Author: | Woods, GM (Professor Gregory Woods) |
| ID Code: | 73596 |
| Year Published: | 2011 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 25 |
| Deposited By: | Menzies Institute for Medical Research |
| Deposited On: | 2011-10-18 |
| Last Modified: | 2017-11-07 |
| Downloads: | 621 View Download Statistics |
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