For almost half of us, cancer will become an unfortunate reality in our lifetime. But elephants have one of the lowest rates of cancer in any mammal.
Now, a new study from the University of Chicago published in Cell Reports reveals the elephant’s genetic secret and it’s inspiring new anti-cancer strategies in humans.
Cancer is ultimately a disease of one of two things: old age or having lots of cells. Any cell in the body can become cancerous with the right set of bad mutations to the DNA.
That should mean that elephants—the world’s largest living land animal—would be among the highest risk for cancer with over 100 times more cells than a human. Instead, cancer is basically non-existent in
This story was originally published on CBC News. To read the rest of this news worthy story, please visit https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/this-gene-prevents-elephants-from-getting-cancer-1.4787721?cmp=rss.