Why do elephants do not have cancer?

Elephant is a rather strange animal. They are considered the largest terrestrial animals. And importantly, elephants rarely get cancer.

Elephants have an additional 40 copies of the gene for a protein called p53 - this gene plays a very important role in preventing cancer.

According to IndianaPublicMedia, Elephants are very large in size and they also have more cells than most other animals. You may think that the more cells you have, the higher your risk of cancer and why it is lower.

However, studies show that elephant cancer mortality is 5% and 25% lower than humans.

Scientists at the University of Utah and Arizona State have studied the elephant's genome and found that they have 40 more copies of the gene for a protein called p53 - this is a very important gene. in preventing cancer.

Protein p53 appears to destroy damaged cells before they become cancerous cells and divide. The researchers confirmed this when observing elephant cells in the laboratory.

This is not the only reason elephants are less likely to have cancer, but p53 certainly plays a very important role in this. This research could pave the way for the production of future anti-cancer drugs for humans.