A team of researchers from the University of Utah, Arizona State University, and the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation have determined the cancer inhibiting factor that elephants possess. With this finding, scientists believe that the fight against human cancer may have been given a fresh dose of hope.
The study, which was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, determined that even though elephants have 100 times more cells than humans, they have less than 5% cancer mortality rate as opposed to 25% among humans because elephants possess more facilities for the p53 protein. This well-known cancer inhibitor is coded by at least 40 genes in an elephant, while a human being only possesses 2 of such genes. The protein actually stops tumours before they are even formed by destroying the damaged cells long before these cells become cancerous.
CNN reports that in their study, the researchers damaged DNA in white blood cells extracted from elephants. According to study co-author and pediatric oncologist from the University of Utah School of Medicine Joshua Schiffman, the observed behaviour toward the damaged cells is to kill these cells as if the cells themselves were targeting a fresh start. He admits that this appears to be the more effective approach to preventing cancer since a damaged cell that is gone can no longer turn into cancer. A mutated cell may be prevented from dividing but will still be unable to repair itself completely.
Schiffman states that, logically, given size and gene count elephants should display a larger vulnerability to cancer. Based on this, too, they ought to have become extinct by now. The amount of p53 production is what has aided the survival of this species.
Although human risk of cancer has other varied contributing factors, scientists are optimistic that the study has allowed them the necessary insight that may allow the definition of more effective strategies toward battling cancer in humans.
