Fighting off extinction. Finding cures from within.

Australia is home to some unique and wacky wildlife. From our one-of-a-kind platypus to the famous cuddly koala, special features and adaptations to our vast land result in species not found anywhere else in the world. Sadly, a number of our national treasures are already extinct in the wild, and the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is on the brink of such a fate. A contagious cancer known as Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) has torn through the population and landed the world’s number one marsupial predator on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Interestingly, DFTD consists of two of the only three known transmissible cancers in vertebrates and is spread when devils bite each other during breeding season. The devil population has been reduced by more than 80% across the state of Tasmania since the disease was first observed in 1996. Despite combined efforts from multiple groups and organisations, there is no approved vaccines or therapies to combat DFTD currently available.  

CIPPS Chief Investigator Professor Kathy Belov along with Associate Investigator Professor Carolyn Hogg, centre researcher Dr Emma Peel, and PhD student Cleopatra Petrohilos have been working hard to find answers.  

Antimicrobial peptides, called cathelicidins, provide the first line of defence for marsupials during early life. They are expressed in the pouch lining, skin and milk of devils and act as natural broad-spectrum antibiotics, directly killing a variety of bacteria and fungi. The CIPPS team recently discovered and characterised seven marsupial cathelicidins and have tested these to understand their involvement in DFTD. The researchers found four of these cathelicidins, namely Saha-CATH3, 4, 5, and 6, were toxic to DFTD. One stopped the tumour cells from rapidly multiplying, a key characteristic of tumours irrespective of species. They also discovered three cathelicidin peptides recruit other cells of the immune system which are known to cause inflammation.  

These findings of anti-cancer and inflammatory functions add to the impressive resumé of marsupial cathelicidins which have already been identified as a potential alternative to traditional antibiotics in the fight against drug resistant pathogens. Most importantly, cathelicidins may hold the key for the future survival of our beloved Tasmanian devil as CIPPS researchers seek to harness these fascinating peptides to find cures from within.  

 Reference: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-39901-0  

DOI: doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-39901-0  

Paper: Tasmanian devil cathelicidins exhibit anticancer activity against Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD) cells 

Centre members involved: Kathy Belov, Emma Peel, Carolyn Hogg, Cleopatra Petrohilos