Elephants rarely get cancer because their bodies have a rare 'zombie gene'

 

Elephants are virtually the last mammals that have the LIF6 gene. It has died in almost every other animal, but still operates in elephants and might be able to help us find a cure to cancer. Elephants rarely every get cancerous diseases, and scientists are starting to contribute it to the fact that elephants have 20 copies of the p53 gene to turn on the LIF6 gene, whereas humans only have one so we might not have enough power to flip the LIF6 gene back on. In the study, scientists focused on refunctionalizing the LIF6 gene, which is a leukemia inhibitory factor with apoptotic  functions. Lynch and his team were originally studying the p53 gene in elephants, but found that the LIF6 gene evolved to create a new "on" switch, which enables the gene when it is exposed to other dead cells. The study concluded that once the LIF6 gene is activated by p53, it kills the cell fairly quickly and produces a protein that destroys the cell's mitochondria and kills the cell. Then the LIF6 gene was blocked in elephants in the study, the diseased cells quickly became cancerous. When the LIF6 gene was introduced to mice that didn't have the gene or just didn't have it activated, they became cancer resistant.

This study has made a huge step toward cancer research, and I hope they continue with their experiments. If scientists can prove that replacing the gene in mice does not give any long term effects, then maybe we could start using it in humans. Getting rid of cancer would be a huge accomplishment in today's world and would help so many people and families. Even if this turns out to be a temporary fix, it could give so many people a longer time to live and create better lives for people. I'm sure many people in the world would be willing to donate money to fund this research, I just wish it was a little more accessible. This article wasn't available until the second page on Fox News, but it seems like a really important story and should be pretty popular.

https://www.foxnews.com/science/elephants-rarely-get-cancer-because-their-bodies-have-a-rare-zombie-gene

LIF6 Gene Could Be Causing Low Rates of Cancer in Elephants

        Hundreds of thousands of Americans die yearly due to cancers. A disease that appears in such large numbers in the human species is rare to be found in the elephant species. The article Elephants Revived a "Zombie" Gene that May Fend Off Cancer talks about how these low rates of cancer found in elephants may be due to a "zombie gene". It is a defunct duplicate of the LIF gene that was brought about in evolution. When there is damage to any DNA in an elephant, the elephants' cells will increase the activity of the zombie gene, LIF6, destroying the cell completely. Researches declare that this destroys any genetic defects that are caused by cancer. The LIF gene has numerous functions in mammals. In elephants, the LIF gene is duplicated several times as pseudogenes. These genes do not have the correct sequence to produce functioning transcripts. Researchers question whether these duplications may have an affect on the elephants' cell response to any DNA damage, which is completely destroying it. 

        The team of researches found that the LIF6 gene, one of the duplicated pseudogenes, had duplicated in a way that it produces a transcript. That specific gene product is controlled by TP53 which is a tumor suppressor.  The TP53 protein regulates cell division and keeps the cell from dividing and growing at too quick of a rate or in an uncontrolled way. The over expression of LIF6 in the cells of elephants cause the cells to undergo apoptosis, causing the death of the cell. Researchers then had the idea to introduce the gene into the ovary of a Chinese hamster. When they did, the results showed that the gene had the same response to any DNA damage, complete destruction. There is still more work to be done to confirm the relationship between the LIF6 gene and low rates of cancer. This is definitely an interesting genetic discovery and could lead to many interesting findings in future research. I believe this discovery will lead to medical advancements in cancer treatment in the future. Since cancer rates and deaths due to cancer are so high in the United States, research like this gives hope that a cure can still be found.

The 'Zombie Gene' That May Protect Elephants From Cancer

          This past Summer an article was released revealing the findings of Dr. Vincent J. Lynch and other scientists from the University of Chicago. These scientists have discovered a rare mutation in the genes of elephants while looking for a reason behind their small probabilities of cancer. This rare mutation starts in the p53 gene. The p53 gene, in short, is a tumor suppressant gene that inhibits the formation of tumors. p53 makes a protein that senses damaged DNA and responds by either repairing or by destroying the damaged cells.

          The evolved p53 gene in elephants reacts differently because when the protein senses damaged DNA, it does not even think about fixing it, the protein just automatically destroys them so they will not have a chance to reproduce their mutation. Not only do their p53 genes immediately eliminate the problem, but they also have so many more than humans. Humans only have one copy of p53 while elephants have 20 copies.
          The variation in the p53 gene sparked scientists to look a little deeper, which unearthed a very interesting mutation that explains why elephants are not as prone to cancer. Both humans and elephants have a gene called LIF. While humans have only one LIF gene, elephants seem to contain 10. After looking closer into these LIF genes scientists discovered one LIF6 gene, which is a gene that has been seen before in animals, but has been thought to have become extinct up until this discovery in modern day elephants. LIF6 has seemingly 'resurrected' itself, which is why scientists are referring to it as the 'Zombie Gene'.
          Normally when the proteins are released from the p53 gene, LIF genes are instructed to stop each damaged cell's production of proteins. However, LIF6 mutated in order to be able to read the protein made by p53, which makes LIF6 able to go in and actually kill the damaged cells instead of just impeding their ability of making proteins. LIF6 kills the cell by attacking the mitochondria, which turns out to be very poisonous to the cell. The mitochondria is ripped open, poisons the cell, and ultimately kills the cell.
          Although there are still many factors to look into, I think it is a wonderful beginning to a major study on the way the LIF6 gene works. To be able to see this gene live and in action could be very beneficial to discovering what we can do as far as medication in humans. I think this study could be the catalyst to many others in order to see what can be done to manipulate the gene in order to possibly take down one of the biggest forms of disease in our world today.

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