Turning dogs into humans

In a recent article scientists have discovered that man’s best friend is closer related than one would believe.  Researchers at  North Carolina State University  have experimented with dogs that have non-Hodgkin lymphoma by altering their genes so that they would share the genome of a human.  The scientists involved in this experiment took the altered purebred canines with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and compared their genome to that of humans with the same disease. The researchers did this to see where the cancer lied on their chromosomes. This data revealed that the area that dogs and humans share that contributes to lymphoma is small. Showing that scientists many have been studying all the extra genes in humans when the problem might lie in the small area that is shared between canines and humans.  Since, dogs are affected in the same way that humans are from the cancer shows that the answer may lie in these few shared chromosomes.



     I found this article very interesting and shocking. I did not like the fact that the scientists altered the genes of these dogs because I found that to be cruel. I did, however, think that this is a huge step in the right direction to finding a cure to cancer. My great grandfather died from lymphoma and it was hard to watch him waste away. I feel that this discovery does not answer the question of where exactly the cancer lies on chromosomes but it does help scientists know where to start next. This study helped prepare many new studies in the process of finding a cure for cancer.