Bear in mind that researchers have colonies of thousands of these animals, and in all the time people have been looking, only a tiny number of cases of cancer h

Bear in mind that researchers have colonies of thousands of these animals, and in all the time people have been looking, only a tiny number of cases of cancer have been cataloged in this species. [1] Compare that with the cancer incidence and mortality rates in other mammals. The present thinking on various mole rat breeds and their cancer resistance is that they have more active and more useful cancer suppression gene activities for p16, p21, p27, ARF, etc, and that their tissues have a lot more high molecular weight hyaluronan than peer species [2]. Disabling the gene producing the hyaluronan makes them vulnerable to cancer, and that appears connected to p16 activity. The important outcome of the particular setup for naked mole rat biochemistry may be that their cells are a lot more sensitive to crowding, and will more readily self-destruct when that happens. Without that, cancer is more easily induced. [1]: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0300985816630796 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0300985816630796 [2]: http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=6572 http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=6572