Cancer Immune Animals?

Animals such as elephants, bowhead whales, and naked mole rat seem to defy cancer.

16:16 04 November 2015

Just like humans, animals are prone to developing cancer, sharing with us the same mortality rate. Based on studies, domesticated animals such as dogs and cats as well as wild animals such as Tasmanian devils are not immune to cancer. Sea lions, beluga whales, and sharks also develop the condition. However, it seems that there are few exceptions. Studies have confirmed that elephants, bowhead whales, and naked mole rat, are not prone to cancer.

 

Only 5per cent of elephants die from cancer. This is significantly low considering that one in five humans will die from the disease. It turned out that elephants have a lot of copies of known cancer-fighting gene known as p53. Most mammals, including human, only have one copy while elephants have 20.

 

Vincent Lynch of the University of Chicago in Illinois, US, said that such information can be used to fight the disease. In theory, we could create drugs that "mimic what's going on in elephants.”

 

One such drug, Nutlin, is being tested at the moment. It protects the p53 protein, ensuring it does not get destroyed and can continue to work.