Cancer-free: how are elephants escaping the deadly disease?
It turns out that elephants not only have great memory – they are also very unlikely to develop cancer.
Although cancer often comes with age and cell growth – and elephants live up to 70 years and grow from 200 to 12,000 pounds as they mature – it only affects about 5% of elephants in captivity.
The reason for this may be that elephants have twenty times as many copies of a tumor-blocking gene called TP53. This cancer-fighting gene checks for genetic mistakes and destroys errors that cannot be fixed. In comparison, humans only have 2 of these genes, one from their mother and another from their father.
At Medical Offices of Manhattan, we offer cancer testing. A simple blood test can assess your risk for certain cancers. Schedule your appointment today for the test.
