Elephants Could Help Prevent Human Cancer

        Can elephants lead us in the right direction to prevent cancer? How can elephants help us? Since elephants are much larger in size than us and have more cells would not they have a higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer? In theory it is thought that the bigger an animal and the more cells they have the would have a higher increase of gene mutations during cell division. These gene mutations would then result in cancerous cells. However that is not true, at all. The fact that there is no correlation between the risk of cancer and an animal's size or lifespan is also known as Peto's Paradox. A great example of this lack of correlation is that although elephants are much larger than humans, elephants have a much lower risk for cancer.
       What is it about elephants that makes them insusceptible to have cancer? A new study done by Dr. Joshua D. Schiffman from the University of Utah School of Medicine and his colleagues have just published their work on answering this question. Their study focused on a disease and cause of death for 36 mammalian species including Asian or African Elephants. Humans and elephants can both inherit a rare condition known as LiFraumei syndrome. LiFraumei syndrome substantially increases the risk of cancer. The team found that elephants have 20 or more copies of TP53. TP53 is an important tumor suppressor gene. In comparison, humans only possess one copy of TP53, with two alleles (one from each parent). However humans with LiFraumei syndrome only have one functioning allele of the TP53. Having only one allele of this major tumor suppressor gives them a 90% to 100% lifetime risk of developing cancer.
       The TP53 gene is crucial because it is a part of responding to damage to DNA by forming apoptosis via the p53 protein. Apoptosis working correctly is very critical when dealing with cancerous cell. If apoptosis does not work correctly it could result in cancer cells not being eliminated but instead persisting and becoming immortal. Elephants having more copies of TP53 and apoptosis conducted by p53 protects them against cancer. The study is still being conducted but these findings are a step in the right direction.
         I thought this article was very interesting. When trying to find out more information about cancer in humans, I would have never thought to research elephants. However being the risk of cancer in elephants is lower than humans it does make sense. I am hoping there is a way geneticists can use these studies to copy the TP53 genes to suppress tumors such as cancer. This study definitely gives us insight on why humans are so susceptible to developing cancer.

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