All animals are susceptible to cancer, and some are more prone to cancer than others. But, Arizona State University researchers have discovered a specific genome in an unlikely species that may stop cancer growth.
One may assume the more cells an animal has, the greater the chance for a cancerous mutation. But when comparing humans to large animals, such as elephants, the opposite seems to be true.
In fact, it is in African elephants where ASU Biodesign researchers discovered 20 copies of a specific genome that suppresses cancer growth, while humans — and most other species — only have one of these genomes.
“Elephants have evolved this kind of redundancy to be able to suppress tumor formation," said Marc Tollis, a researcher on the project. "So instead of trying to do DNA repair which can lead to mistakes and tumor formation, like what would happen in a human cell, elephant cells just sort of give up. And so that seems to be the basis of their adaptation to avoid cancer.”
Elephants have 19 back-up genome copies and can shut down growth of mutated cells. Tollis said more research of how genome copies shut down cell growth is needed.
