New research from TCG reveals that the canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) first emerged from a dog that was closely related to an intriguing group of ancient North American dogs. 

The research, published in Science, reports that dogs arrived into North America together with people more than 10,000 years ago. By sequencing ancient DNA from dog bones collected from many sites across North America, we found that these dogs belong to a single genetic lineage that is related to modern-day Arctic breeds, such as huskies. Remarkably, however, these dogs appear to have largely disappeared since the arrival of Europeans 500 years ago.

One genetic legacy of these dogs does remain however: CTVT first arose from an animal that was related to these native American dogs. Thus, this worldwide cancer may be the closest remaining genetic vestige of a group of dogs that once roamed a continent.

Congratulations to Máire Ní Leathlobhair, co-first author on the study. The work was a large collaboration including scientists at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Durham.

Our collaborator from South Africa, Mirjam van der Wel, gave a presentation "Canine transmissible venereal tumours" at the EASTERN CAPE VETERINARY CONGRESS on 4th of May 2018. It was well received by the audience and we are grateful that M. is spreading the knowledge of CTVT and our research amongst the clinical veterinary audience. Thank you for your enthusiasm, and congratulations, Mirjam! If you would also be interested to get involved in our research by collecting samples, see the following page for further info https://www.tcg.vet.cam.ac.uk/Research/get-involved-in-CTVT-research

WELL DONE Mirjam!!!

TCG member, Máire Ní Leathlobhair, recently returned from a field trip to Argentina. Máire's trip was funded by a Santander Mobility grant awarded by the University of Cambridge. In Argentina, she worked with vets and researchers based at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) as well as the Catholic University of Córdoba (UCC), to collect samples and to study the prevalence of CTVT in Argentinian street dogs. We wish to say a huge thank you to Dr. María Verónica Brignone (UBA), Dr. César Koci, and Dr. Diego Graiff (UCC) as well as all of the fantastic veterinary hospital staff who helped with the sampling.

Many congratulations to Maximilian R. Stammnitz's new paper published on Cancer Cell, April 9, 2018!!

http://www.cell.com/cancer-cell/pdfExtended/S1535-6108(18)30117-X

Well done Max and everyone!!

BBC News

Tasmanian devil cancers targeted by human drugs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-43698885

Cambridge University Research News

Human anti-cancer drugs could help treat transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/human-anti-cancer-drugs-could-help-treat-transmissible-cancers-in-tasmanian-devils

Mr. Juan Carlos Ramirez Ante from University of Caldas, Colombia, came to visit TCG for two weeks in January 2018. Juan is a Veterinarian and currently doing his Master degree at Professor Francisco Pedraza's group at University of Caldas.  Professor Pedraza and Juan are collaborators of our ongoing CTVT projects and had sent us hundreds of CTVT samples in the past few years. He spent two weeks with TCG members learning experimental methods for the analysis of Canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT), and investigated the journey of CTVT tissue samples from the biopsy to genomic DNA sequencing. We will also further develop a joint project on CTVT chemotherapy response.

Elizabeth Murchison has been elected as part of the 2017 intake of the EMBO Young Investigator Programme for young European researchers in life sciences. 

Congratulations to Maximilian Stammnitz, who has won first prize for his poster “Disease doppelgängers: genomic characterisation of two transmissible cancers in Tasmanian devils” at the EMBL Cancer Genomics Conference in Heidelberg!

Many congratulations to Adrian Baez-Ortega, who won the 2017 Abcam Prize for Graduate Research at the Department of Veterinary Medicine! Adrian's research focuses on understanding the diversity and evolution of the canine transmissible venereal tumour.

TCG Part II student Alex Sampson won the Prize for best project in Part II Pathology (Cancer and Genetic Diseases) for his project "Characterising somatically arising nuclear insertions of mitochondrial DNA (NuMTs) in Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour".

Many congratulations Alex!

Many congratulation on Máire Ní Leathlobhair’s new paper "No evidence for clonal transmission of urogenital carcinoma in California sea lions (Zalophus californianus)" published by Wellcome Open Research on the 22nd June 2017!

Well done Máire!

Many congratulations to Adrian Baez-Ortega and Kevin Gori on their new review, 'Computational approaches for discovery of mutational signatures in cancer' (BIB-17-0115.R1), which has been accepted for publication in Briefings in Bioinformatics on the 27th June 2017.

Well done both of you!

Congratulations to Andrea Strakova, who has been awarded the 2017 Canine Health Awards Postgraduate Student Inspiration Award from the Kennel Club. Andrea will receive £10,000, which she will use to support her postdoctoral research on CTVT. Find more information about the award here.

Andrea Strakova has been selected as one of twelve recipients of the 2017 Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (CSAR) student awards. The awards recognise excellence in research by postgraduate students at the University of Cambridge. Andrea’s research is on the evolution and host interactions of the canine transmissible venereal tumour. More information on the awards can be found here. Congratulations Andrea!

Several TCG members attended the 9th International Conference on Canine and Feline Genomics in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Congratulations to Adrian Baez-Ortega who won a Student Travel Award for best student abstract.

Dr. Rodrigo Hamede from the University of Tasmania, came to visit the TCG this week. Rodrigo is a colleague working on Tasmanian devils, we had a nice discussion about our current projects and future collaborations.  

TCG member Dr. Tracy Wang recently attended "The 6th China Small Animal Veterinary Physician Conference", which was held in Haikou, China, April 10-13, 2017. China Small Animal Veterinary Physician Conference has been recognized as the industry's most authoritative in mainland China,  it provides the best platform for the highest level of lecturers for practicing small animal vets continuing education, fantastic opportunities for Chinese and foreign small animal clinical technology exchange and international collaboration. Tracy has successfully set up the link between TCG group and small animal vets in China. We are looking forward for many more collaborations in the future.

The 2016 TCG Christmas Party! Merry Christmas everyone!

Many congratulations to TCG former postdoc Jose Tubio, who has been awarded a highly competitive ERC Starter Grant. The grant will allow Jose, who is now a faculty member at the University of Vigo, Spain, http://darwin.uvigo.es/mobgenomes/ to start up an exciting research programme on transmissible cancers in marine bivalves. Congratulations, Jose!

Congratulations to Andrea Strakova, who has been awarded a scholarship from the British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG) for her research on CTVT. The scholarship, which is based purely on academic excellence, recognises Andrea’s important and exciting contributions to the field of transmissible cancers. The scholarship is available to final year female graduate students who are studying in the UK. Many congratulations to Andrea for this fantastic achievement!

Two TCG members, Alex Sampson and Andrea Strakova, have recently returned from a field trip in Belize. Alex and Andrea worked with vets and volunteers at the Hopkins Belize Humane Society (HBHS), Animal Medical Centre, Paw’s Veterinary Clinic, Roaring Creek Veterinary Clinic, Stann Creek Animal Hospital, Punta Gorda Humane Society and the Belize Wildlife & Referral Clinic to monitor the clinical behaviour of CTVT in a cohort of Belizean dogs. Huge thank you to Clara Lee Arnold from the HBHS and all of our fantastic collaborators who helped with the field work, and welcome back, Alex and Andrea.

Photo credit: Amanda Zehnder Thielman, Hopkins Belize Humane Society

Read the story about how a roadkill Tasmanian devil triggered Elizabeth Murchison's interest in transmissible cancers. The story, "Cancer in the wilderness", was published in Cell.

Four additional transmissible cancers have been discovered in marine bivalves - one of which appears to have jumped between species. 

Read more here:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature18455.html

Using genetics, scientists at the TCG show how the world’s oldest cancer “metastasised” through the global dog population in an article published today in eLife.

Thanks to dedicated help from our veterinary collaborators based all over the world, we collected and analysed canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) samples collected from over 400 dogs in 39 countries across six continents. Our research showed how CTVT has rapidly spread around the world over the last two thousand years. By tracing the five genetic lineages, or “clades”, of CTVT tumours (see map below), we mapped the geographical routes that the tumour may have taken on its global travels. Excitingly, our work also showed how CTVT has captured, maintained and rearranged its mitochondrial DNA along the way.

If you would be interested in learning more about our recent work on CTVT, you can watch our short video or access the full paper.

Citation: Strakova et al. eLife 2016;5:e14552

Five CTVT genetic lineages, or “clades”, and their distribution around the world.

Many congratulations to TCG member Maximilian Stammnitz, who has been awarded a prestigious Gates Cambridge Scholarship! Gates Scholarships are extraordinarily competitive, so this is a huge achievement. More information about the 2016 class of Gates Cambridge Scholars can be found here:

https://www.gatescambridge.org/our-scholars/new-scholars

Here is an inspirational true story of the young female dog Missy who made a full recovery from her severe CTVT cancer, thanks for the treatment and care  provided by Animal Aid Unlimited.

http://animalaidunlimited.org/blog/dog-with-massive-cancerous-tumor-recovers/

We have a new opening for a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the TCG. This is an exciting opportunity to genetically analyse hundreds of tumours derived from transmissible cancer lineages in dogs and Tasmanian devils. The deadline for applications is 28th March 2016.

Application forms and more information are found here:

http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/9533/

TCG research was mentioned in a recent article in the New York Times, speculating about transmissible cancers in humans...

 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/science/scientists-ponder-the-prospect-of-contagious-cancer.html?_r=1

Last week (1^st-5^th February) I had the privilege of visiting the TCG group at the Department of Veterinary Medicine in Cambridge, UK.

I had an awesome week!

In my normal life I am a vet who works for a welfare organisation in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I work in a small clinic where I deal with vaccinations, basic treatment of animal illness and injuries and simple surgery (predominantly spaying). I see and treat TVT regularly and since 2013 I have been sending biopsies to Andrea. Until now, sending regular biopsies was the extent of my involvement with the CTVT project. But after this week, I feel more like I'm part of a team!

Sitting in the lab in Cambridge and cutting up the pieces of tumour that I had actually collected, made me see how I fitted in the whole picture. From the way I label the biopsy vials, the information I send, the pictures I take to the point where I treat the patient. And in discussion with Liz and Tracy and Andy, I soon realised how little things that I can do (clinical history, location of the dog, exact treatment protocol etc) can make a considerable difference to how the results are interpreted.

I had been asked to do a presentation for the lab describing my field work. Initially I was wondering how I could relate to my audience but it turned out to be very easy to share my veterinary ideas and experiences with the group and for them to make suggestions about more field based information gathering. It all came together very nicely!

My very comfortable accommodation was at King's College, right in the heart of old Cambridge. The place oozes history and it's difficult not to be impressed by it.

The week wasn't just in the laboratory. I was given a guided tour of the Queen’s Veterinary School Hospital by the Dean of the Vet School Professor Mike Herrtage, I also went to other departmental presentations. We did lunch, we did dinner and it was over before I had a chance to breathe!

Liz, Tracy, Andy, Max, Young Mi, Adrian, Maire and Issy, thank you all for an unforgettable week!

Warm regards,

Mirjam

Dr Mirjam van der Wel, from Animal Anti-Cruelty League (AACL) South Africa, came to visit TCG last week. Mirjam is a collaborator of our ongoing CTVT projects and had sent us hundreds of CTVT samples in the past few years. She spent a week with TCG members and investigated the journey of CTVT tissue samples from the biopsy to genomic DNA sequencing. 

Over the past three weeks, our enthusiastic TCG members have been on a field excursion to Australia’s southernmost state: ’Tassie devil’s habitat. With the recent discovery of a second DFTD lineage, their intention was to conduct a preliminary field assessment of the spread DFT2 and meet local collaborators of the Save the Devil program.

Bringing Tasmanian summer, many unique memories and devil stories in
their suitcases, the three have now safely arrived in Cambridge: welcome back!