Why Do Elephants Have Lower Cancer Rates?

An analysis found that only 5% of elephants die from cancer compared to up to 25% of people.

16:33 12 October 2015

An existing theory suggests that the every cell can become cancerous so the more of them you have, the more likely you are to get cancer. So why is it that elephants, which have 100 times as many cells as a human being, have lower cancer rates?   

 

To provide an explanation, scientists have turned to the animal’s DNA. They found that elephants have “smoke alarms” that detect the damage and either lead to the cell being repaired or killed. One of these alarms is called TP53. This is also present in human DNA but elephants have 20.

 

Dr Joshua Schiffman, one of the researchers and a paediatric oncologist, said: "By all logical reasoning, elephants should be developing a tremendous amount of cancer, and in fact, should be extinct by now due to such a high risk for cancer.

 

"Nature has already figured out how to prevent cancer, it's up to us to learn how different animals tackle the problem so we can adapt those strategies to prevent cancer in people."

 

However, Prof Mel Greaves, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, says we should focus on why humans have such high levels of cancer.

 

"In terms of adaptive mechanisms against cancer we have the same as a chimp, but we get a lot more cancer than a chimp.

 

"I think the answer is humans are completely unique as a species in having very rapid social evolution in a short period of time."