Tasmanian devils with contagious cancer exhibit a constricted T-cell repertoire diversity
- Journal Title
- Communications Biology
- Publication Type
- Journal Article
- Abstract
- The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is threatened by a contagious cancer, known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). A highly diverse T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire is crucial for successful host defence against cancers. By investigating TCR beta chain diversity in devils of different ages, we show that the T-cell repertoire in devils constricts in their second year of life, which may explain the higher DFTD prevalence in older devils. Unexpectedly, we also observed a pronounced decline in TCR diversity and T cell clonal expansion in devils after DFTD infection. These findings overturned the previous assumption that DFTD did not directly impact host immunity.
- Publisher
- Springer
- Research Division(s)
- Bioinformatics
- PubMed ID
- 30886908
- Publisher's Version
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0342-5
- Open Access at Publisher's Site
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0342-5- Terms of Use/Rights Notice
- Refer to copyright notice on published article.
Creation Date: 2019-03-27 08:18:48
Last Modified: 2019-03-27 08:41:57