NAKED MOLE RATS TO TREAT CANCER AND DEMENTIA?

Edited by, JOHN FELIX

What are naked mole rats?

   Naked mole rats are the hairless, buck toothed and cold blooded unusual animal that grows to between 3-13 inches in length. These animals usually live in the complex underground tunnels beneath deserts and grasslands. These small animals can live over 30 Years, that means they live longer than any other animals in this size range.

    Scientists believe that these apparent immunity to aging may be used to treat and prevent cancer and dementia, in Humans.

Special Characteristics of the naked mole rats:

    Researches have found that these rodents rarely had Cancer. These rats are resistant to many kinds of pain and can survive for 18 minutes without oxygen. They were free from aging related diseases. Their extraordinry ability to deal the threats to genome is remarkable.

   Usually in Animals, as they age their body causes damage in the form of mutations. These mutations can lead to Faulty protein production and causes imbalance between physical and chemical conditions. This leads the cells to deteriorate with age called senescence. But in Naked mole rats, they work differently. They have a superior damage response system which works quickly to repair DNA damage by cutting out faulty bases and replacing it in the DNA sequence. 

   Naked mole rats have an extra copy of a gene that promotes antioxidants, that protects the cells from damage that can cause mutation.

What next?

      The scientists are trying to understand what makes them so resistant and trying to extract that knowledge to bring new treatments for cancer in patients.   

   "If we can work out how they do this, we could try to adopt similar system in human or to use these markers to predict who will develop dementia or cancer as they age and to take appropriate steps" Says Sherif El-Khamisy, A professor of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Bradford, UK.