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Scientists discover how naked mole rats stay cancer-free

Naked mole rats are the only known animals in the world that don't get cancer. Now scientists know why, and it may be the key to the cure.

By Bryan NelsonTue, Oct 27 2009 at 3:30 AM EST
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NAKED RATS: They can live for as long as 30 years, have an immunity to cancer, and live in insect-like societies. (Photo: Riude/Flickr)
They may not win many beauty contests, but naked mole rats have long caught the eyes of scientists working to find the cure to cancer. These strange, bald rodents are the only animals in the world that appear to be completely immune to the disease. Now researchers at the University of Rochester think they may have unlocked their secret.
 
The findings, which were published recently in an issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, bring optimism that the cure to cancer may not be far off. Even more encouraging, scientists traced the naked mole rats' ability to stay tumorless to the operation of a single gene.
 
Dubbed 'p16', the gene works by making cells "claustrophobic", essentially keeping them from replicating when too many crowd together. Since cancer is caused by runaway cell growth, the gene acts as a fail-safe mechanism, preventing cell proliferation from cascading out of control.
 
"It's very early to speculate about the implications, but if the effect of p16 can be simulated in humans, we might have a way to halt cancer before it starts," said University of Rochester researchers Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov.
 
The exciting discovery comes at the end of an unusual three-year journey for Gorbunova and Seluanov, who have been investigating rodents of all kinds from around the world to see how they each deal with cancer differently.
 
It turns out that naked mole rats are particularly unusual when put in a context with most other small-bodied mammals. Aside from their hairless bodies and the fact that they form communities that consist of queens and workers more reminiscent of bees or ants than rodents, they also live longer — a lot longer. Some naked mole rats have been known to live more than 30 years.
 
Of course, the fact that they're resistant to cancer helps to explain how they can live so long. But that longer lifespan means that there's even more time for cells to grow cancerous, a fact which made the mystery as to how the depilated rodents remain cancer-free all the more intriguing.
 
Now that the mystery is solved, it almost seems apt: It may be that the key to curing cancer for the hairless ape rests in understanding the tiny, bizarre biology of the hairless rat.
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Related Topics: Animal Research, Environmental Research, Environmental Science

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anonymous
Miss Sakamoto 08/05/2010 14:26 PM

Wow.
I'm incredibly put off by the negativity I see in these comments. This article says "may" and "could" where it could say "By Golly, this is it! None of that time-tested crap that certified doctors call treatments!" If you want to be a spectacular curmudgeon about it, then do so when conversing with your spectacular curmudgeon friends, and have fun in your life without hope.

anonymous
Susan Simpson 03/05/2011 13:46 PM

Totally agree; the treatments have destroyed my life!

anonymous
Scott 05/11/2010 23:40 PM

we will all end up looking like the surviving humans from planet of the apes

anonymous
George Butel 03/03/2010 04:15 AM

Looking at the comments, at first I couldn't figure out what the hoax alerts had to do with the mole rat article. Then, after a few clicks, I discovered Steven's copy and paste job extolling the virtues of baking soda as a cure for cancer. I hate to say it, but my first reaction when I see something like that is to think that anyone who would actually believe it deserves the consequences of their stupidity. But then I correct myself and think, well, stupidity is a handicap, and we have to.... More

anonymous
Susan S 03/05/2011 14:02 PM

Trust me I know! I have Stage 3 cancer and sorry but anything gives me hope vs, chemo that has tore my body apart even caused heart damage and heart attack and I am 38...ITs not being stupid its just having hope

anonymous
cocoabear1965 04/01/2012 07:34 AM

Baking soda does keep the body alkaline.Put about a tablesppon in a glass of water.Get it without aluminum.Cancer can`t live in an oxygen rich environment.Keeping alkaline is also good.35 percent food grage hydrogen peroxide is good.All cancer treatments do is destroy your immune system and leave you with nothing to fight with.Many spices are cancer fighters.

anonymous
Rich artichoker 12/07/2009 18:00 PM

The premise of this article is that naked mole rats have a gene that not only limits cell growth, but also that somehow this is a mechanism that is exclusive to mole rats. this is an erroneous assumption. we have known for a long time that cell growth in normal tissue is limited by a mechanism called "contact inhibition" we each have the beginnings of tumors starting in our bodies all the time and it is this mechanism called contact inhibition that keeps things in check. it is only when this.... More

anonymous
b4s 12/02/2009 23:52 PM

super.

2015, medicine cures cancer. 2030, world population exceeds 10B, a huge percentage living in poverty. 2036, Apophis ruins the human population anyway.

nature ftw.

anonymous
domesticated primate 10/30/2009 11:16 AM

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/cancer-tips-john-hopkins.shtml

anonymous
Steve 10/29/2009 10:52 AM

Sharks are highly resistant to cancers as well as disease but this has to do with the fundamental differences between the shark and higher vertebrate immune systems. Without being technical about it sharks essentially eliminate waste products much more efficiently than we do. However, when sharks are placed in areas high in human contaminants and pollution they are susceptible to cancer.

anonymous
Brandon 10/28/2009 21:54 PM

@ Steven: http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cancerupdate.asp

anonymous
George 10/28/2009 19:31 PM

@Steven: Thanks for the comment, but it was kind of skimpy, don't you think? Next time give more details and flesh out your ideas a little more so readers will know what you were trying to convey.

anonymous
Steven 10/28/2009 18:41 PM

Curing Cancer with Baking Soda:

What MD’s and Naturopaths Don’t Know
by Gregory Delaney

Wouldn’t the delusional physicians and the big pharmacology swindlers be embarrassed to find that cancer could be cured with nothing more complicated than ordinary baking soda? Well, no, they wouldn’t be embarrassed because they would be outraged. All of their billions in profits vanishing in a twinkle, would not have these betrayers of Mankind at all happy with such a simple.... More

anonymous
Guest 10/28/2009 18:21 PM

naturally occurring substances and processes are not patentable in the United States.

anonymous
Dave S. 10/28/2009 14:32 PM

Big Pharma will probably patent the gene referred to as p16. It's sickening that research and cures be brought to a grinding halt through those means. Profits are clearly more important than human life.

anonymous
JL 10/28/2009 13:20 PM

They Still Don't Smoke

anonymous
Guest 10/28/2009 12:25 PM

I wouldn't think so either, but I found this article:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Sharks_Get_Cancer.asp

unfortunately, i see the second post occurring sometime soon in the future...

anonymous
Guest 10/28/2009 12:26 PM

by second i mean first, because apparently i ignored the date and time...

anonymous
Cannor Milos 10/28/2009 06:21 AM

Aren't sharks immune to cancer as well?

anonymous
Phil E. Drifter 10/28/2009 00:05 AM

Big Pharma to lobby congress to outlaw this in 3...2...1...

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