Elizabeth Murchison: Fighting a contagious cancer

Translator: Etrit Adami Reviewer: Dita Bytyci

Everyone's familiar with cancer,

Cdonjeri eshte i njohur me kancerin,

but we don't normally think of cancer

por ne normalisht nuk mendojme kancerin

as being a contagious disease.

si nje semundje ngjitese.

The Tasmanian devil has shown us

Djalli i Tasmanise na ka treguar ne

that, not only can cancer be a contagious disease,

se, jo vetem qe mund te jete ngjites,

but it can also threaten

por edhe kercenues

an entire species with extinction.

per te gjithe speciet me zhdukje.

So first of all, what is a Tasmanian devil?

Pike se pari, cfare eshte djalli i Tasmanise?

Many of you might be familiar with Taz, the cartoon character,

Shume nga ju mund ta njohin Taz-in, nje personazh i animuar,

the one that spins around and around and around.

ai qe vertitet rrotul e rrotull e rotull.

But not many people know

Por jo shume prej jush e dine

that there actually is a real animal called the Tasmanian devil,

qe aktualisht eshte nje kafshe qe quajne Djalli i Tasmanise,

and it's the world's largest carnivorous marsupial.

dhe qe eshte nje nga marsupialet me te medhenje mishngrenes ne bote.

A marsupial is a mammal with a pouch

Marsupial eshte nje gjitar me nje xhep

like a kangaroo.

si te kangurit.

The Tasmanian devil got its name

Djalli Tasmanise e ka marre emrin

from the terrifying nocturnal scream that it makes.

nga klithmat e frikshme qe leshon naten.

(Screaming)

( Klithma )

(Laughter)

( Te qeshura )

The Tasmanian devil is predominantly a scavenger,

Djalli i Tasmanise eshte kryesisht nje ngrenes mbeturinash te ngordhura,

and it uses its powerful jaws

dhe perdor nofullat e fuqishme

and its sharp teeth

dhe dhembet e tij te mprehte

to chomp on the bones of rotting dead animals.

te coptoje kockat e kafsheve te ngordhura.

[The] Tasmanian devil is found only on the island of Tasmania,

Djalli i Tasmanise gjendet ne ishullin e Tasmanise,

which is that small island

qe eshte nje ishull i vogel

just to the south of the mainland of Australia.

ne jug te kontinentit Australian.

And despite their ferocious appearance,

Dhe pervec pamjes mizore,

Tasmanian devils are actually

djajte Tasmanise jane

quite adorable little animals.

kafshe adhuruese.

In fact, growing up in Tasmania,

Ne fakt, duke u rritur ne Tasmani,

it always was incredibly exciting

eshte gjithmone emocionuese

when we got a chance to see

kur ne patem shansin ta shohim

a Tasmanian devil in the wild.

nje djall te Tasmanise ne nje ambjent te eger.

But the Tasmanian devil population

Por pupullimi i djallit te Tasmanise

has been undergoing a really extremely fast decline.

eshte duke perjetuar nje renie te shpejte.

And in fact, there's concern

Dhe ne fakt, eshte nje shqetesim

that the species could go extinct in the wild

qe kjo specie mund te zhduket

within 20 to 30 years.

brenda 20 deri 30 vitesh.

And the reason for that

Dhe arsyeja e kesaj

is the emergence of a new disease,

eshte krijimi i nje semundje te re

a contagious cancer.

nje kancer ngjites.

The story begins in 1996

Historia filloi ne 1996

when a wildlife photographer took this photograph here

kur nje fotograf profesionist more kete foto ketu

of a Tasmanian devil

te nje djali te Tasmanise

with a large tumor on its face.

me nje tumor te madh ne fytyren e tij.

At the time, this was thought to be a one-off.

Ne ate kohe, u mendua qe mund te ishte dicka e karakterit natyror.

Animals, just like humans,

Kafshet, ashtu si njerzit,

sometimes get strange tumors.

ndonjehere mund te kene tumore te cuditshme.

However, we now believe

Megjithate, ne tani besojme

that this is the first sighting of a new disease,

qe kjo eshte hera e pare e nje semundje te re,

which is now an epidemic spreading through Tasmania.

qe tani eshte perhapur epidemikisht ne Tasmani.

The disease was first sighted

Semundja u vu re per here te pare

in the northeast of Tasmania in 1996

ne verilindje te Tasmanise ne 1996

and has spread across Tasmania like a huge wave.

dhe eshte perhapur permes Tasmanise si nje vale e madhe.

Now there's only a small part of the population,

Ka vetem nje pjese te vogel te popullsise,

which remains unaffected.

qe mbetet e pa infektuar.

This disease appears first as tumors,

Semundja duket si nje tumor,

usually on the face or inside the mouth

zakonisht ne fytyre ose brenda gojes

of affected Tasmanian devils.

se djajveTasmanian te infektuar.

These tumors inevitably grow into larger tumors,

Keto tumore ne menyre te pashmanghsme rriten ne tumore me te medhenje,

such as these ones here.

si keto ketu.

And the next image I'm going to show

Ne pamjen tjeter une do t'ju tregoj

is quite gruesome.

eshte mjaft e frikshme.

But inevitably, these tumors progress

Por ne menyre te pashmangshme, keto tumore avancojne

towards being enormous, ulcerating tumors like this one here.

drejt zmadhimit , duke crijuar tumore si ky ketu.

This one in particular sticks in my mind,

Pikerisht ky rri ne mendjen time,

because this is the first case of this disease

sepse ky eshte rasti pare i semundjes

that I saw myself.

qe une e pashe me syte e mi.

And I remember the horror of seeing this little female devil

Dhe me kujtohet kur pashe kete djall femer

with this huge ulcerating, foul-smelling tumor

me kete tumor kaq te madh me ere te keqe

inside her mouth

brenda gojes se saj

that had actually cracked off her entire lower jaw.

qe e kishte plasaritur te tere nofullen e poshtme te saj.

She hadn't eaten for days.

Ajo nuk kishte ngrene me dite te tera.

Her guts were swimming with parasitic worms.

Zorret e saj po notonin ne krimba parazite.

Her body was riddled with secondary tumors.

Trupi i saj ishte mbushur me tumore sekondare.

And yet, she was feeding three little baby Tasmanian devils

Dhe ne anen tjeter, ajo po ushqente tre te vegjlit

in her pouch.

ne xhepin e saj .

Of course, they died along with the mother.

Sigurisht, qe ato ngordhen me mamane e tyre.

They were too young to survive without their mother.

Ata ishin shume te vegjel per te mbijetuar pa mamane e tyre.

In fact, in the area where she comes from,

Ne fakt, vendi nga vjen ajo ,

more than 90 percent of the Tasmanian devil population

me shume se 90 perqind e popullates se djallit te Tasmanise

has already died of this disease.

tashme kane ngordhur nga e njejta semundje.

Scientists around the world

Shkencetaret nga e gjithe bota

were intrigued by this cancer,

jane intriguar nga ky kancer,

this infectious cancer,

ky kancer ngjites,

that was spreading through the Tasmanian devil population.

qe u shpernda neper popullaten e Djallit te Tasmanise.

And our minds immediately turned to cervical cancer in women,

Dhe mendjet tona menjehere u kthyen nga kanceri cervikal i grave,

which is spread by a virus,

qe shperdahet nga nje virus,

and to the AIDS epidemic,

dhe nga epidemia e Sides,

which is associated with a number of different types of cancer.

qe percillet me nje numer kanceresh te ndryshme.

All the evidence suggested that this devil cancer

Te gjitha provat deshmojne se ky kancer i djallit

was spread by a virus.

eshte shperndare nga nje virus.

However, we now know -- and I'll tell you right now --

Megjithate, ne tashme e dime -- dhe do t'ju tregoj tani --

that we know that this cancer is not spread by a virus.

se ne e dime qe ky kancer nuk shperndahet nga virusi.

In fact, the infectious agent of disease in this cancer

Ne fakt, ky agjent infektues i semundjes ne kete kancer

is something altogether more sinister,

eshte dicka shume e keqe,

and something that we hadn't really thought of before.

dhe dicka qe ne nuk e kishim menduar me pare.

But in order for me to explain what that is,

Por ne vend qe une t'ua shpjegoj cfare eshte kjo,

I need to spend just a couple of minutes

mua me duhen disa minuta

talking more about cancer itself.

per te folur rreth vete kancerit.

Cancer is a disease

Kanceri eshte nje semundje

that affects millions of people around the world every year.

qe prek miliona njerez ne bote vit per vit.

One in three people in this room

Nje nga tre njerez ne kete dhome

will develop cancer at some stage in their lives.

do te kete kancer ne ndonje faze te jetes se tij.

I myself had a tumor removed from my large intestine

Une vete kam pasur tumor ne zorren e madhe te cilen ma kane hequr

when I was only 14.

kur une isha vetem 14 vjec.

Cancer occurs

Kanceri formohet

when a single cell in your body

kur nje qelize e vetme ne trupin tend

acquires a set of random mutations in important genes

peson disa ndryshime ne gjene te rendesishme

that cause that cell to start to produce

qe shkaktojne kete qelize te filloje te prodhoje

more and more and more copies of itself.

shume e me shume kopje te vetes.

Paradoxically, once established,

Ne menyre paradoksale, sapo formohet,

natural selection actually favors

perzgjedhja natyrale favorizon

the continued growth of cancer.

rritjen e vazhdueshme te kancerit.

Natural selection is survival of the fittest.

Perzgjedhja natyrale eshte mbijetesa e me te fortit.

And when you have a population of fast-dividing cancer cells,

Dhe kur ke nje popullate qe ka ndarje te shpejte te qelizave kanceroze,

if one of them acquires new mutations,

nese nje nga ato peson nje mutacion te ri,

which allow them to grow more quickly,

qe i lejon ato te rriten me shpejt,

acquire nutrients more successfully,

te marrin ushqimin me suskses,

invade the body,

te pushtojne trupin,

they'll be selected for by evolution.

ato do te perzgjidhen nga evolucioni.

That's why cancer is such a difficult disease to treat.

Ja pse, kanceri eshte nje semundje e veshtire per t'u trajtuar.

It evolves.

Ai evoluon.

Throw a drug at it,

Jepi nje ilaq,

and resistant cells will grow back.

dhe qelizat rezistuese do te rriten perseri.

An amazing fact is that,

Nje fakt mahnites eshte qe,

given the right environment and the right nutrients,

duke qene ne nje ambjent optimal dhe duke mare ushqimin e nevojshem,

a cancer cell has the potential

nje qelize kanceroze ka fuqine

to go on growing forever.

per t'u zhvilluar pergjithmone.

However cancer is constrained

Sidoqofte kanceri eshte i detyruar

by living inside our bodies,

te jetoje brenda trupit tone,

and its continued growth,

dhe rritja e vazhduar etij,

its spreading through our bodies

shperndarja ne te gjithe trupin

and eating away at our tissues,

dhe te ushqyerit e tyre me indet tona,

leads to the death of the cancer patient

con ne vdekjen e pacientit me kancer

and also to the death of the cancer itself.

dhe gjithashtu ne vdekjen e vete kancerit.

So cancer could be thought of

Keshtu qe kanceri mund te mendohet

as a strange, short-lived, self-destructive life form --

si nje forme e gjalle, jeteshkurter, e cudtitshme --

an evolutionary dead end.

nje vdekje evolucionare.

But that is where the Tasmanian devil cancer

Por aty eshte ku kaceri i djallit te Tasmanise

has acquired an absolutely amazing

ka siguruar nja adaptim evolucionar te

evolutionary adaptation.

jashtezakonshem.

And the answer came from studying

Dhe pergjigja ardhi nga studimi

the Tasmanian devil cancer's DNA.

i ADN-se se djallit te Tasmanise.

This was work from many people,

Ishte pune e bere nga shume njerez,

but I'm going to explain it through a confirmatory experiment

por une une do t'ua shpjegoj ate permes nje eksperimenti

that I did a few years ago.

qe une kam bere disa vite me pare.

The next slide is going to be gruesome.

Faqja tjeter do te jete pak e frikshme.

This is Jonas.

Ky eshte Jonas.

He's a Tasmanian devil that we found

Ky eshte Djalli i Tasmanise qe kemi gjetur

with a large tumor on his face.

me nje tumor te madh mbi fytyren e tij.

And being a geneticist,

Si gjeneticiste qe jam,

I'm always interested to look at DNA and mutations.

une jam gjithmone e interesuar per te pare ADN-ne dhe mutacionet.

So I took this opportunity

Keshtu qe shfrytezova kete mundesi

to collect some samples from Jonas' tumor

per te mbledhur disa mostra nga tumori i Jonasit

and also some samples from other parts of his body.

dhe gjithashtu disa mostra nga pjeset tjera te trupit te tij.

I took these back to the lab.

I dergova ne laborator.

I extracted DNA from them.

Nxorra ADN-ne nga ata.

And when I looked at the sequence of the DNA,

Dhe kur pashe renditjen e ADN-se,

and compared the sequence of Jonas' tumor

dhe e krahasova renditjen e tumorit te Jonasit,

to that of the rest of his body,

me ate te pjeseve tjera te trupit te tij,

I discovered that they had a completely different genetic profile.

Zbulova qe ata kishin nje profil gjenetik krejtesosht ndryshe nga njeri-tjetri.

In fact, Jonas and his tumor

Ne fakt, Jonas dhe tumori i tij

were as different from each other

ishin aq te ndryshim nga njeri tjetri

as you and the person sitting next to you.

sa ti edhe personi tjeter qe eshte ulur afer teje.

What this told us was that Jonas' tumor

Ajo cfare pame ne ishte qe tumori Jonasit

did not arise from cells of his own body.

nuk doli nga qelizat e trupit te tij.

In fact, more genetic profiling

Ne fakt, profilizimet tjera gjenetike

told us that this tumor in Jonas

na treguan qe tumori i Jonasit

actually probably first arose

ndoshta per here te pare u rrit

from the cells of a female Tasmanian devil --

nga qelizat e nje Djall Tasmanian femer --

and Jonas was clearly a male.

dhe Jonasi ishte mashkull.

So how come

Pra si eshte e mundur

a tumor that arose from the cells of another individual

qe nje tumor qe u rrit nga qeliza e nje kafshe tjeter

is growing on Jonas' face?

po rritej ne fytyrene Jonasit ?

Well the next breakthrough

Zbulimi tjeter i madh

came from studying hundreds of Tasmanian devil cancers

erdhi nga studimi i qindra kancereve te Djallit te Tasmanise

from all around Tasmania.

nga e gjithe Tasmania.

We found that all of these cancers

Ne zbuluam qe te gjithe keto kancere

shared the same DNA.

kishin te njejten ADN.

Think about that for a minute.

Mendoni nje minute.

That means that all of these cancers

Kjo do te thote qe te gjithe keto kancere

actually are the same cancer

aktualisht jane i njejti kancer

that arose once from one individual devil,

qe u zhvillua nga nje djall i vetem ,

that have broken free of that first devil's body

dhe pastaj leshoi trupin e djallit te pare

and spread through the entire Tasmanian devil population.

dhe u shpernda ne gjithe popullaten e djajve te Tasmanise.

But how can a cancer spread in a population?

Por si eshte e mundur qe nje kancer te shperdahet ne nje popullate?

Well the final piece of the puzzle came

Pjesa e fundit e ketij misteri erdhi

when we remember how devils behave when they meet each other in the wild.

kur menduam se si djajt sillen kur takohen me njeri tjetrin ne xhungel .

They tend to bite each other,

Ata kafshojne njeri tjetrin,

often quite ferociously and usually on the face.

shpesh shume egersisht dhe zakonisht ne fytyre.

We think that cancer cells

Ne mendojme qe qelizat kanceroze

actually come off the tumor, get into the saliva.

aktualisht dalin nga tumori dhe futen me peshtyme.

When the devil bites another devil,

Kur nje djall e kafshon tjetrin,

it actually physically implants living cancer cells into the next devil,

ai fizikisht i transmeton qelizat kanceroze,

so the tumor continues to grow.

keshtu qe tumori vazhdon te rritet.

So this Tasmanian devil cancer

Keshtu kanceri i djallit te Tasmanise

is perhaps the ultimate cancer.

eshte ndoshta kanceri me i rrezikshem.

It's not constrained by living within the body that gave rise to it.

Nuk eshte i detyruar qe te rriten ne nje trup ku ai eshte rritur me te.

It spreads through the population,

Ai shperdahet premes popullates,

has mutations that allow it to evade the immune system,

ka mutacione qe e lejon ate te pushtoje sistemin imun,

and it's the only cancer that we know of

dhe eshte i vetmi kancer qe ne njohim

that's threatening an entire species with extinction.

qe kercenon te gjithe speciet me zhdukje .

But if this can happen in Tasmanian devils,

Por nese kjo ndodh me Djallin e Tasmanise,

why hasn't it happened in other animals

pse nuk ka ndodhur me kafshet e tjera

or even humans?

ose me njerzit?

Well the answer is, it has.

Pergjigia eshte, qe ka ndodhur.

This is Kimbo.

Ky eshte Kimbo.

He's a dog that belongs to a family in Mombasa in Kenya.

Ai eshte nje qen qe i perket familjes Mombasa ne Kenya.

Last year, his owner noticed some blood

Vitin qe kaloi, i zoti i tij verejti ca gjak

trickling from his genital region.

qe rridhte nga pjesa e gjenitaleve.

She took him to the vet

Ajo e coi tek veterinari

and the vet discovered something quite disgusting.

dhe ai zbuloi dicka shume te tmerrshme.

And if you're squeamish, please look away now.

Dhe nese jeni te dobet, ju ltem mos shikoni.

He discovered this,

Ai zbuloi kete,

a huge bleeding tumor

nje tumor qe rridhte gjak

at the base of Kimbo's penis.

ne fillin e penisit te Kimbos.

The vet diagnosed this as transmissible venereal tumor,

Ai e diagnostifikoi kete si nje tumor veneral te trasmetueshem,

a sexually transmitted cancer

nje kancer i trasmetueshem permes seksit

that affects dogs.

qe prek qente.

And just as the Tasmanian devil cancer is contagious

Dhe si kanceri i djallit te tasmanise qe eshte ngjites

through the spread of living cancer cells,

permes shperndarjes se qelizave,

so is this dog cancer.

po edhe keshtu eshte kanceri i qenve.

But this dog cancer is quite remarkable,

Por ky kancer qensh eshte mjaft interesant,

because it spread all around the world.

sepse ai shperdahet ne te gjithe boten.

And in fact, these same cells

Dhe ne fakt, kete qeliza te njejta

that are affecting Kimbo here

qe kane prekur Kimbon ketu

are also found affecting dogs

jane gjetur qe kane prekur edhe qene

in New York City,

te tjere ne New York,

in mountain villages in the Himalayas

ne fshtara malore te Himalajas

and in Outback Australia.

dhe deri ne Australi.

We also believe this cancer might be very old.

Ne gjithashtu besojme qe kanceri mund te jete shume i vjeter.

In fact, genetic profiling tells

Ne fakt, profili gjenetik na tregon

that it may be tens of thousands of years old,

qe mund te jete dhjetera mijera vjet i vjeter,

which means that this cancer

qe do te thote qe ky kancer

may have first arisen

mund ne fillim te jete zhvilluar

from the cells of a wolf

nga qelizat e nje ujku

that lived alongside the Neanderthals.

qe ka jetuar ne kohen e Neandertaleve.

This cancer is remarkable.

Kanceri eshte i jashtezakonshem.

It's the oldest mammalian-derived life form that we know of.

Eshte forma me e vjeter e gjalle qe del nga gjitaret qe ne e njohim.

It's a living relic

Eshte nje relike e gjalle

of the distant past.

nga nje e kaluar e larget.

So we've seen that this can happen in animals.

Keshtu qe ne pame qe kjo mund te ndodhi tek kafshet.

Could cancers be contagious between people?

A mund te jete kanceri ngjites edhe tek njerzit?

Well this is a question

Kjo eshte nje pyetje

which fascinated Chester Southam,

qe ka magjepsur Chester Southam,

a cancer doctor in the 1950s.

nje doktor kanceri ne vitet e 1950-ta.

Ad he decided to put this to the test

Ai vendosi ta testoje kete

by actually deliberately inoculating people

duke vaksinuar njerezit me kancer

with cancer from somebody else.

te dikujt tjeter.

And this is a photograph of Dr. Southam in 1957

Dhe kjo eshtenje fotografi e Dr. Southam ne 1957

injecting cancer into a volunteer,

duke injektuar kancerin tek nje vullnetar,

who in this case was an inmate

qe ne kete rast ishte i burgosur

in Ohio State Penitentiary.

ne Penitenciarin e Ohajos.

Most of the people that Dr. Southam injected

Shumica e njerezve qe Dr. Southam injektoi

did not go on to develop cancer

nuk zhvilluan kancerin

from the injected cells.

nga qelizat e injektuara.

But a small number of them did,

Por nje numer i vogel i tyre po,

and they were mostly people who were otherwise ill --

dhe keta ishin njerez qe ishin te semure --

whose immune systems were probably compromised.

sistemi imun i te cileve ishte kompromituar.

What this tells us,

Cfare na tregon kjo,

ethical issues aside,

duke lene anash ceshjet etike,

is that ...

eshte se ....

(Laughter)

( Te qeshura )

it's probably extremely rare

eshte shume e rralle

for cancers to be transferred between people.

qe kanceret te transferohen permes njerezve.

However, under some circumstances,

Megjithate, ne disa rethana,

it can happen.

mund te ndodhi.

And I think that this is something

Dhe une mendoj qe kjo eshte dicka

that oncologists and epidemiologists

qe onkologjistet dhe epidomiologjistet

should be aware of in the future.

duke ta kene parasysh ne te ardhmen.

So just finally,

Dhe per fund,

cancer is an inevitable outcome

kanceri eshte nje rezultat i pa shmangshem

of the ability of our cells

i aftesise se qelizave tona

to divide

per t'u ndare

and to adapt to their environments.

dhe per t'iu adaptuar mjedisit te tyre.

But that does not mean that we should give up hope

Por kjo nuk do te thote qe ne nuk duhet te heqim dore nga shpresa

in the fight against cancer.

ne luften kunder kancerit.

In fact, I believe, given more knowledge

Ne fakt, une besoj, duke pasur njohurite

of the complex evolutionary processes that drive cancer's growth,

rreth proceseve komplekse evolucionare qe shkaktojne rritjen e kancerit,

we can defeat cancer.

ne mund ta mundim ate.

My personal aim

Qellimi im personal

is to defeat the Tasmanian devil cancer.

eshte te mposht kancerin e djallit te Tasmanise.

Let's prevent the Tasmanian devil

Le te parandalojme Djallin e tasmanise

from being the first animal

per te qene e para kafshe

to go extinct from cancer.

qe mund te zhduket nga kanceri.

Thank you.

Faleminderit.

(Applause)

( Duatrokitje )