Bredberg A, Schmitz B. Human cancer, the naked mole rat and faunal turnovers.
Cancer Med 2019;
8:1652-1654. [PMID:
30790458 PMCID:
PMC6488205 DOI:
10.1002/cam4.2011]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/15/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
We argue that the human evolutionary heritage with frequent adaptations through geological time to environmental change has affected a trade‐off between offspring variability and cancer resistance, and thus favored cancer‐prone individuals. We turn the attention to a factor setting the highly cancer‐resistant naked mole rat apart from most other mammals: it has remained phenotypically largely unchanged since 30‐50 million years ago. Research focusing on DNA stability mechanisms in ‘living fossil’ animals may help us find tools for cancer prevention and treatment.
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