7 ms·

I have never heard of transmittable cancer before. Are there transmittable cancers among humans?

kenny11 5y ago
Yes, and there are even vaccines for them: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hpv-infection/in-depth/hpv-vaccine/art-20047292 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hpv-infection...
- laurencerowe 5y ago
  HPV is a virus (human papillomavirus) that can cause cancer, whereas with devil facial tumour disease the cancer itself spreads. This means the cells that form the devil facial tumour are genetically identical across all individual animals infected with it. Normal cancer cells are your own cells which have developed a genetic abnormality, not somebody else's! As I understand it, an HPV infection increases the chance that one of your own cells will develop a genetic abnormality and become cancerous.
  - thaumasiotes 5y ago
    The distinction you are drawing is not relevant to the question or supported by the original claim: >> The Devil Facial Tumour Disease" they suffer from is one of the few non-viral transmittable cancers. That phrasing obviously contemplates the existence of viral transmissible cancers such as HPV. If one person states "this is one of the few known non-viral transmissible cancers", and someone else follows up with the question "are there any transmissible cancers in humans?", how does information on transmissible cancers in humans get judged off-topic? Nobody asked "are there any non-viral transmissible cancers in humans?".
    - laurencerowe 5y ago
      I read "are there any transmissible cancers in humans?" in the context as referring to cancers that are themselves transmissible like devil facial tumor disease. (It appears every result in the first few pages of a Google search for the term "transmissible cancer" refers to transmission of cancer cells themselves, not cancers caused by infectious agents.)
      - thaumasiotes 5y ago
        The context explicitly distinguishes "transmissible cancers" from "non-viral transmissible cancers". That's only possible when "transmissible cancers" includes cancers that are transmitted by viruses.
      - StavrosK 5y ago
        I can see both sides of this, though as a data point I also read it as "viral or otherwise".
SaintGhurka 5y ago
Cervical cancer is usually caused by HPV. So women can prevent it by getting vaccinated
- girvo 5y ago
  Though that is a virus that causes cancer, whereas the cancer under discussion is transmitted directly. Splitting hairs though, IMO!
  - hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
    I think it's a lot more than just splitting hairs. There are many viral-initiated cancers. The virus is transmissible, and then when the virus infects host cells in causes the DNA machinery of the cell to go haywire, leading to cancer. Examples include HPV (causes cervical, anal and throat cancer) and feline leukemia virus (retrovirus which causes weakened immune system and leukemia in cats). This is very different from a transmissible cancer, where it is the cancer cells themselves that can infect other hosts, which is pretty crazy when you first think about it. According to wikipedia there are only 3 known types among mammals: canine transmissible venereal tumor, devil facial tumor, and another cancer that affects Syrian hamsters.
    - KMag 5y ago
      There's also Human Herpes Virus 8 that causes Kopsi's Sarcoma[0]. Nearly all cases are found in immunocompromised individuals, and in times/places without HAART readily available, it is/was a common cancer in HIV+ people. In these cases, in some sense a co-infection of HHV-8 and HIV causes the cancer. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaposi%27s_sarcoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaposi%27s_sarcoma
    - bawolff 5y ago
      I wonder if such a cancer is less cancer, and more a parasite, from a certain perspective?
      - 5y ago
caf 5y ago
I don't believe there's any known human ones, but there's a dog one that is 11,000 years old (Canine Transmissible Veneral Tumour) and there's a clam one.
- nso 5y ago
  The dog one is rampant where I live in Mexico. Treatable of catched early and the dog is lucky enough to have someone affluent watching over it, but most don't.
  - snoshy 5y ago
    What name(s) do you have for it? What's the philology?
    - ahazred8ta 5y ago
      https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor_ven%C3%A9reo_transmisible https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor_ven%C3%A9reo_transmisibl...
dragonwriter 5y ago
> Are there transmittable cancers among human? I don’t think there are any known examples of cancer transmission (as opposed to transmission of viruses that cause cancer) in humans; leukemias have shown to be transmissible in mice in the lab.
- ericbarrett 5y ago
  There kind of is—direct transmission of cancer has been documented mother-to-child (pregnancy) and as a rare complication of organ transplants.
  - The_rationalist 5y ago
    It's also transmissible through a syringe
totetsu 5y ago
The real interesting part is that DNA from the first devil to develop the tumor is living on forever in other individuals.
- GranularRecipe 5y ago
  Due to the high mutation rates of tumor cells, it is unlikely the "same" DNA. And it definitely does not live forever if it wipes out populations. That degree of aggressiveness is not a good survival strategy.
puzzlingcaptcha 5y ago
In humans it's very rare and usually related to transplants e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12692543/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12692543/
_Microft 5y ago
There is a theory that some (now) parasites were actually transmittable cancers before, which then developed multi-cellularity that allowed them to have the distinct cell types that they needed to be an own lifeform. Developing multi-cellularity in eurkaryotes has been reported a few dozen times if I remember correctly. Crazy stuff, if true.
- grokkedit 5y ago
  that's one of the craziest theories I've ever heard (and amazing if correct!) I found this article https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s13062-019-0233-1.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s13062-019-023... but I still haven't read it!
  - DebtDeflation 5y ago
    Here's another for you - the virus-first hypothesis posits that all cellular life on earth is the result of viruses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_evolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_evolution https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/140716-giant-viruses-science-life-evolution-origins https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/140716-gi...
Zenst 5y ago
Whilst not directly defined as a transmittable cancer, the HPV virus family sure does come close. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-papillomavirus-(hpv)-and-cervical-cancer https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-papil...

Yes, and there are even vaccines for them: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hpv-infection/in-depth/hpv-vaccine/art-20047292 https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hpv-infection...

laurencerowe 5y ago
HPV is a virus (human papillomavirus) that can cause cancer, whereas with devil facial tumour disease the cancer itself spreads. This means the cells that form the devil facial tumour are genetically identical across all individual animals infected with it. Normal cancer cells are your own cells which have developed a genetic abnormality, not somebody else's! As I understand it, an HPV infection increases the chance that one of your own cells will develop a genetic abnormality and become cancerous.
- thaumasiotes 5y ago
  The distinction you are drawing is not relevant to the question or supported by the original claim: >> The Devil Facial Tumour Disease" they suffer from is one of the few non-viral transmittable cancers. That phrasing obviously contemplates the existence of viral transmissible cancers such as HPV. If one person states "this is one of the few known non-viral transmissible cancers", and someone else follows up with the question "are there any transmissible cancers in humans?", how does information on transmissible cancers in humans get judged off-topic? Nobody asked "are there any non-viral transmissible cancers in humans?".
  - laurencerowe 5y ago
    I read "are there any transmissible cancers in humans?" in the context as referring to cancers that are themselves transmissible like devil facial tumor disease. (It appears every result in the first few pages of a Google search for the term "transmissible cancer" refers to transmission of cancer cells themselves, not cancers caused by infectious agents.)
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      The context explicitly distinguishes "transmissible cancers" from "non-viral transmissible cancers". That's only possible when "transmissible cancers" includes cancers that are transmitted by viruses.
    - StavrosK 5y ago
      I can see both sides of this, though as a data point I also read it as "viral or otherwise".

SaintGhurka 5y ago

Cervical cancer is usually caused by HPV. So women can prevent it by getting vaccinated

girvo 5y ago
Though that is a virus that causes cancer, whereas the cancer under discussion is transmitted directly. Splitting hairs though, IMO!
- hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
  I think it's a lot more than just splitting hairs. There are many viral-initiated cancers. The virus is transmissible, and then when the virus infects host cells in causes the DNA machinery of the cell to go haywire, leading to cancer. Examples include HPV (causes cervical, anal and throat cancer) and feline leukemia virus (retrovirus which causes weakened immune system and leukemia in cats). This is very different from a transmissible cancer, where it is the cancer cells themselves that can infect other hosts, which is pretty crazy when you first think about it. According to wikipedia there are only 3 known types among mammals: canine transmissible venereal tumor, devil facial tumor, and another cancer that affects Syrian hamsters.
  - KMag 5y ago
    There's also Human Herpes Virus 8 that causes Kopsi's Sarcoma[0]. Nearly all cases are found in immunocompromised individuals, and in times/places without HAART readily available, it is/was a common cancer in HIV+ people. In these cases, in some sense a co-infection of HHV-8 and HIV causes the cancer. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaposi%27s_sarcoma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaposi%27s_sarcoma
  - bawolff 5y ago
    I wonder if such a cancer is less cancer, and more a parasite, from a certain perspective?
    - 5y ago

caf 5y ago

I don't believe there's any known human ones, but there's a dog one that is 11,000 years old (Canine Transmissible Veneral Tumour) and there's a clam one.

nso 5y ago
The dog one is rampant where I live in Mexico. Treatable of catched early and the dog is lucky enough to have someone affluent watching over it, but most don't.
- snoshy 5y ago
  What name(s) do you have for it? What's the philology?
  - ahazred8ta 5y ago
    https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor_ven%C3%A9reo_transmisible https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor_ven%C3%A9reo_transmisibl...

dragonwriter 5y ago

> Are there transmittable cancers among human? I don’t think there are any known examples of cancer transmission (as opposed to transmission of viruses that cause cancer) in humans; leukemias have shown to be transmissible in mice in the lab.

ericbarrett 5y ago
There kind of is—direct transmission of cancer has been documented mother-to-child (pregnancy) and as a rare complication of organ transplants.
- The_rationalist 5y ago
  It's also transmissible through a syringe

totetsu 5y ago

The real interesting part is that DNA from the first devil to develop the tumor is living on forever in other individuals.

GranularRecipe 5y ago
Due to the high mutation rates of tumor cells, it is unlikely the "same" DNA. And it definitely does not live forever if it wipes out populations. That degree of aggressiveness is not a good survival strategy.

puzzlingcaptcha 5y ago

In humans it's very rare and usually related to transplants e.g. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12692543/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12692543/

_Microft 5y ago

There is a theory that some (now) parasites were actually transmittable cancers before, which then developed multi-cellularity that allowed them to have the distinct cell types that they needed to be an own lifeform. Developing multi-cellularity in eurkaryotes has been reported a few dozen times if I remember correctly. Crazy stuff, if true.

grokkedit 5y ago
that's one of the craziest theories I've ever heard (and amazing if correct!) I found this article https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s13062-019-0233-1.pdf https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s13062-019-023... but I still haven't read it!
- DebtDeflation 5y ago
  Here's another for you - the virus-first hypothesis posits that all cellular life on earth is the result of viruses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_evolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_evolution https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/140716-giant-viruses-science-life-evolution-origins https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/140716-gi...

Zenst 5y ago

Whilst not directly defined as a transmittable cancer, the HPV virus family sure does come close. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-papillomavirus-(hpv)-and-cervical-cancer https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/human-papil...