Journal article

PD-L1 is not constitutively expressed on tasmanian devil facial tumor cells but is strongly upregulated in response to IFN-γ and can be expressed in the tumor microenvironment

AS Flies, A Bruce Lyons, LM Corcoran, AT Papenfuss, JM Murphy, GW Knowles, GM Woods, JD Hayball

Frontiers in Immunology | FRONTIERS MEDIA SA | Published : 2016

Open access

Abstract

The devil facial tumor disease (DFTD) is caused by clonal transmissible cancers that have led to a catastrophic decline in the wild Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) population. The first transmissible tumor, now termed devil facial tumor 1 (DFT1), was first discovered in 1996 and has been continually transmitted to new hosts for at least 20 years. In 2015, a second transmissible cancer [devil facial tumor 2 (DFT2)] was discovered in wild devils, and the DFT2 is genetically distinct and independent from the DFT1. Despite the estimated 136,559 base pair substitutions and 14,647 insertions/deletions in the DFT1 genome as compared to two normal devil reference genomes, the allograft tumors..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

Rescarch support was provided by the Australian Research Council (ARC Linkage grant # LP0989727 and ARC Discovery grant # DP130100715) to GW, Morris Animal Foundation (# D14ZO-410), Sansom Institute Small Grants Scheme, and University of Tasmania Foundation through funds raised by the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal (2X) to AF. The authors acknowledge the NHMRC for fellowship support to JM (1105754), Program grant to LC (1054925), and IRIISS (9000220). LC, AP, and JM acknowledge Victorian Government Operational Infrastructure Support.