Why blind mole rats don’t get cancer
19 Dec 2012 by Evoluted New Media
Biologists have determined why blind mole rats are immune to cancer. The mechanism differs from that discovered three years ago in the naked mole rat, another long-living, cancer-resistant rat species. University of Rochester researchers, led by Professor Vera Gorbunova and Assistant Professor Andrei Seluanov, discovered that abnormally growing cells in blind mole rats secrete a protein called interferon beta which triggers the death of these abnormal cells.
Three years ago, the team determined the anticancer mechanism of the naked mole rat. They discovered that a specific gene called P16 causes cancerous cells in naked mole rats to become hypersensitive to overcrowding, halting their growth when too many cells crowd together.
“We expected blind mole rats to have a similar mechanism for stopping the spread of cancerous cells. Instead, we discovered they’ve evolved their own mechanism,” said Seluanov.
The researchers isolated cells from blind mole rats and forced them to proliferate in culture. After 15-20 cell divisions, all of the cells in the culture flask died. Seluanov and Gorbunova determined that this rapid death occurred because the cells recognised their pre-cancerous state and began secreting the suicidal protein, interferon beta. The research is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Not only were the cancerous cells killed off, but so were the adjacent cells, which may also be prone to tumorous behaviour,” explained Seluanov.
The team hope their findings will eventually lead to new cancer therapies in humans.
“While people don’t have the same cancer-killing mechanism as blind mole rats, we may be able to combat some cancers and prolong life if we could stimulate the same clean sweep reaction in cancerous human cells,” said Gorbunova.
Future research for the team will involve finding out exactly what triggered the secretion of interferon beta after cancerous cells begin multiplying in blind mole rats.
The researchers speculate that the blind mole rats evolved this anti-cancer mechanism as an adaptation to subterranean life.
“Blind mole rats spend their lives in underground burrows protected from predators. Living in this environment, they could perhaps afford to evolve a long lifespan, which includes developing efficient anti-cancer defences,” added Gorbunova.
