Elephants rarely get cancer thanks to a ‘zombie’ gene

By Frankie SchembriAug. 15, 2018 , 12:45 PM

Because animal cells keep dividing over an organism’s life, and each division
carries the risk of producing a cancerous mutation, it should follow that larger
animals with longer life spans are at higher risk of developing cancer. Not for
elephants, whose 5500-kilogram bodies have startlingly low rates of cancer, a fact
that has puzzled scientists for decades. According to a study published yesterday
in Cell Reports, researchers discovered that elephants have extra copies of two
cancer-fighting genes: P53, which hunts for cells with miscopied DNA, and LIF6,
which obliterates the mutated cells before they can form a tumor. When researchers
checked the evolutionary record, they found that LIF6 became inactive in elephant
DNA millions of years ago, and then mysteriously came back to life, The New York
Times reports. The researchers hope to use the results to find new ways to treat
cancer in humans.