3 ms·
Cancer is usually not contagious for the same reason grafts are rejected. Homozygous twins could catch one another's cancer. Tasmanian devils have such a redu
by pygy_ 11y ago
Cancer is usually not contagious for the same reason grafts are rejected.
Homozygous twins could catch one another's cancer.
Tasmanian devils have such a reduced gene pool that they suffer from a contagious form of facial cancer.
In this case, I suppose the immunosuppressive abilities of the worm allowed its cancer to infect its host.
- nshepperd 11y agoThe patient also had HIV, which explains why the cells were able to multiply.
- pygy_ 11y agoIndeed, that definitely helped (I didn't read TFA). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonally_transmissible_cancer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonally_transmissible_cancer has other interesting examples, including the case of a surgeon who caught his patient's cancer after getting injured during the surgery.