Naked Mole mouse does not know what cancer is
2009/10/29 Lakar Iraizoz, Oihane - Elhuyar Zientzia
Tumors have never been observed in naked mole rats (Heterocephalus glaber). It is not that they have a short life and that the cells do not have time to accumulate mutations and eventually develop cancer. They have a life expectancy of about thirty years.
A team of biologists at Rochester University has found that p16 is the gene that makes rats immune to cancer. So to speak, this gene turns the cells into “claustrophobic.” Therefore, when cells begin to accumulate above a certain amount, cell growth is interrupted. And this is the case of tumors: cell groups in continuous growth.
Researchers at Rochester University have studied for three years rodents and various cancer. The final conclusion is that small rodents with a long life expectancy have this protection mechanism. That is why it has cost them to find so much, that is, because the cells that they usually study in the investigations are of mice and human beings. Mice have a short life expectancy and humans are large.
Of course, this discovery can offer a huge opportunity to fight cancer. In fact, if p16 gene activity is achieved in humans, the tumor may be anticipated before its formation. But researchers claim that it is still early to start thinking about such uses.
Image courtesy of: Rochester University
