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Evidence for induction of humoral and cytotoxic immune responses against devil facial tumor disease cells in Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) immunized with killed cell preparations

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posted on 2023-05-18, 08:50 authored by Kreiss, A, Brown, GK, Cesar Tovar LopezCesar Tovar Lopez, Alan Lyons, Gregory WoodsGregory Woods
Tasmanian devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) risk extinction from a contagious cancer, devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) in which the infectious agent is the tumor cell itself. Because devils are unable to produce an immune response against the tumor cells no devil has survived 'infection'. To promote an immune response we immunized healthy devils with killed DFTD tumor cells in the presence of adjuvants. Immune responses, including cytotoxicity and antibody production, were detected in five of the six devils. The incorporation of adjuvants that act via toll like receptors may provide additional signals to break 'immunological ignorance'. One of these devils was protected against a challenge with viable DFTD cells. This was a short-term protection as re-challenge one year later resulted in tumor growth. These results suggest that Tasmanian devils can generate immune responses against DFTD cells. With further optimization of immune stimulation it should be possible to protect Tasmanian devils against DFTD with an injectable vaccine.

Funding

Australian Research Council

Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania

History

Publication title

Vaccine

Volume

33

Issue

26

Pagination

3016-3025

ISSN

0264-410X

Department/School

Menzies Institute for Medical Research

Publisher

Elsevier Sci Ltd

Place of publication

The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox5 1Gb

Rights statement

Licensed under Creative Commons license Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Clinical health not elsewhere classified

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

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