Blind Mole Rat's Ability to Fight Cancer

Mole rats can be found underground in places like Southern and Eastern Africa and the Middle East. They have incredible abilities to survive in thier underground habitats. For example, the naked mole rat does not experience pain and is the only cold blooded mammal. Also, blind mole rats' cells have a fascinating way of fighting cancer. Scientists wanted to take a closer look to find out how blind mole rats are cancer free. Vera Gorbunova, of the University of Rochester and her colleagues examined two species, the Judean Mountains blind mole rat (Spalax judaei) and the Golan Heights blind mole rat (Spalax golani), which live in small regions of Israel. Since the blind mole rats' burrows conatain low levels of oxygen, it would be believed that their cells would commit suicide. However, blind mole rats' cells cannot kill themselves through a type of cell suicide called apoptosis. So you would think blind mole rats should be more susceptible to cancer because their cells cannot undergo apoptosis, but that is not the case. To live underground, blind mole rats had to evolve a mutation in a cancer fighting protein called p53. The mutation prevents cells from undergoing apoptosis, a type of cell death in which cells dismantle themselves from the inside, and a process used to kill cancer cells.
Vera Gorbunova and her colleagues took cells from the blind mole rats and put them in a culture that would force them to multiply beyond what would happen within the animals’ bodies. Beyond twenty multiplications, cells started to rapidly die off. The cells release a chemical called interferon-beta, which the immune system uses normally to fight viruses. In blind mole rats, the chemical caused blind mole rate cells to "burst" open, a process known as necrosis. Once the blind mole rats' cells detected multiplication beyond a cetain point, they kill themselves. Now, researchers are trying to figure out why necrosis is able to kill tumor cells without damaging healthy tissues. Living in low oxygen environments definitly benefit blind mole rat's ability to fight cancer.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/11/blind-mole-rat-cancer/
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346267/description/Cancer_cells_self-destruct_in_blind_mole_rats