ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2012) — Biologists at the University of
Rochester have determined how blind mole rats fight off cancer -- and the
mechanism differs from what they discovered three years ago in another
long-lived and cancer-resistant mole rat species, the naked mole rat.
The team of researchers, led by Professor Vera Gorbunova and
Assistant Professor Andrei Seluanov, found that abnormally growing cells in
blind mole rats secrete the interferon beta protein, which causes those cells
to rapidly die. Seluanov and Gorbunova hope the discovery will eventually help
lead to new cancer therapies in humans. Their findings are being published this
week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Blind mole rats and naked mole rats -- both subterranean rodents
with long life spans -- are the only mammals never known to develop cancer.
Three years ago, Seluanov and Gorbunova determined the anti-cancer mechanism in
the naked mole rat. Their research found that a specific gene -- p16 -- makes
the cancerous cells in naked mole rats hypersensitive to overcrowding, and
stops them from proliferating when too many crowd together.
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