Contagious reticulum cell sarcoma

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Contagious reticulum cell sarcoma is a reticulum-cell sarcoma [1] found in Syrian hamsters [2] that can be transmitted from one hamster to another. [3] It was first described in 1945. [4]

Transmission from hamster to hamster can be through various mechanisms. It has been seen to spread within a laboratory population, presumably through gnawing at tumours and cannibalism. [1] [5] It can also be spread by means of the bite of the mosquito Aedes aegypti . [6]

It is one of only three known transmissible cancers in mammals; the others are devil facial tumor disease, a cancer which occurs in Tasmanian devils, and canine transmissible venereal tumor in dogs and other canines. Unlike these other two, tumours with multiple, independent origins have been observed in laboratory populations of hamsters. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 "A Contagious Tumor of the Hamster". JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 1961. doi:10.1093/jnci/26.4.949.
  2. Copper HL, Mackay CM, Banfield WG (October 1964). "Chromosome studies of a contagious reticulum cell sarcoma of the Syrian hamster". Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 33 (4): 691–706. doi:10.1093/jnci/33.4.691. PMID   14220251.
  3. "Chromosome Studies of a Contagious Reticulum Cell Sarcoma of the Syrian Hamster". JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 1964. doi:10.1093/jnci/33.4.691.
  4. Ashbel, R. (1945). "Spontaneous Transmissible Tumours in the Syrian Hamster". Nature. 155 (3942): 607. Bibcode:1945Natur.155..607A. doi: 10.1038/155607b0 . S2CID   4084173.
  5. 1 2 Ostrander, Elaine A.; Davis, Brian W.; Ostrander, Gary K. (2016). "Transmissible Tumors: Breaking the Cancer Paradigm". Trends in Genetics. 32 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2015.10.001. PMC   4698198 . PMID   26686413.
  6. Banfield WG, Woke PA, Mackay CM, Cooper HL (May 1965). "Mosquito transmission of a reticulum cell sarcoma of hamsters". Science. 148 (3674): 1239–40. Bibcode:1965Sci...148.1239B. doi:10.1126/science.148.3674.1239. PMID   14280009. S2CID   12611674.