Mole rats immune to carcinogens

摘要

As anti-cancer regimes go, this one is not going to get many takers. The Middle East blind mole rat (Spalaxehrenbergi) spends almost all of its 20 years of life hurrying down dark, fusty tunnels full of oxygen-deprived air. But for reasons unknown, it works: in 50 years of research on the rodents, none has ever spontaneously developed cancer. Now it turns out that even exposure to potent carcinogens does not trigger tumours in these hardy animals. Aaron Avivi of the University of Haifa in Israel exposed 20 mole rats to one of two cancer-causing chemicals - DMBA/TPA or 3-MCA. Even after three years, only one of the animals developed any tumours. By contrast, rats and mice exposed to the same chemicals developed tumours in a matter of months.