NEW ELEPHANT PERSPECTIVES MIGHT PREVENT/CURE CANCER IN HUMANS NOW

What if we could gain a new perspective on our own bodies by considering the bodies of other species?

It turns out that elephants might offer us important guidance about preventing and curing cancer.

Elephants are able to destroy their own damaged cells long before they become cancerous, according to a newly released study.

Elephant genes may show us how we can triumph over human cancer.

Scientists have long observed that elephants are one of the few species that rarely gets cancer. It is especially remarkable given that they have 100 times as many cells as humans -- more cells to run amok.

"They should be 100 times more likely to have a cell slip into a cancerous state and trigger the disease over their long life span of 50 to 70 years," scientists at the University of Utah said.

But the cancer mortality rate for elephants is less than 5% compared to a 25% in humans.

A team of scientists from the University of Utah and Arizona State University said they can explain the lower numbers.

As the researchers studied elephant DNA, they found a few unique aspects. Elephants have extra genes that stop tumors long before they form.

According to the study, elephants have "at least 40 copies of genes that code for p53, a protein well known for its cancer-inhibiting properties." In comparison, humans have only 2 copies of these genes.

The study also found that elephants can detect damaged cells preemptively, which they then repair or kill.

Scientists extracted white blood cells from elephants, then altered/damaged the cells' DNA. They found that these cells were eliminated by the elephants before they could turn cancerous.

"It's as if the elephants said, 'It's so important that we don't get cancer, we're going to kill this cell and start over fresh,'” said Joshua Schiffman, one of the study's authors and a pediatric oncologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Killing a precancerous cell may be a more effective strategy to prevent cancer than trying to stop a mutated cell from dividing and not being able to completely repair itself.

The study involved work by researchers from the University of Utah and Arizona State University, along with the Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation. The results were published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Scientists believe that without the genetic cancer-fighting ability, elephants, as a species, would be long gone.

Schiffman postulates, "We think that making more p53 is nature's way of keeping this species alive."

Granted, humans are not elephants, and we have other contributing factors that put us more at risk for getting cancer. But the ways in which elephants manage cancer prevention definitely offers insights that could be used for humans.

"Nature has already figured out how to prevent cancer," Schiffman said. We can learn much from expanding our view and gaining new perspectives from other species.

Read more about Beautiful Perspectives in Surreal Perspectives Are Beautiful Now, Beautiful Perspectives Show Us the Art of the Earth Now, New Perspectives on the Art & Science of Food Now, Beautiful New Perspectives Create Powerful Impressions Now and Beautiful Perspectives Put Places In A Whole New Light Now.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: Courtesy of Documentary Addict. Still from Elephant Wildlife Animals ~ Wild African Elephant With Attitude.
2. Image: by Andrew Gaunt. Addo Elephant National Park.
3. Image: by Pauline Guilmot. Elephant.
4. Image: by tontantravel. Sitting Elephant in Khao Yai National Park.
5. Image: by Nagesh Jayaraman. Might Is Right/ Muthanga Wildlife Sanctuary.
6. Image: by Alex Proimos. Trunk Love.
7. Image: by Tore Bustad. Elephant.
8. Image: by planetlight. Elephants.
9. Image: by Ken Douglas. Love and Affection.
10. Image: by Evan Blaser. Elephant Trunk.
11. Image: by Maryam Laura Moazedi. African Elephants, Kenya.
12. Image: by Brian Snelson. Addo Elephant National Park.
13. Image: by Senorhorst Jahnsen. Elephants Beach Walk.
14. Image: by Alex Berger. Elephants Relaxing - South Luangwa - Zambia.
15. Image: by BN App - Download now!
16. Image: by Ludovic Hirlimann. Elephants Enjoying the Sun !!!