Whale Cancer Defence
Cancer has always been a prevalent risk for Canadians of all ages. In a lifetime, there is a 45% chance to develop cancer for both men and women (1). As of 2023, there is a 1 in 4 chance for Canadians to die from cancer1. Due to the high proportion of cancer worldwide, investigating organisms with high lifespans and low cancer rates could be very beneficial to find a potential cancer solution. A good potential model organism could be the bowhead whale, also known as the longest living mammal. They have been shown to live up to 200 years old, and weigh up to 80,000 kg, making them the second largest animal on earth (2). All of this weight means these whales have a very high cell count but also have a relatively low cancer rate. This discovery has led to the question of why this trend exists? A study done by Firsanov et al showed that specific genes could be good candidates for the whales longevity. These genes have a highly specific and unique mechanism to repair double stranded DNA breaks (2). They have also identified 2 proteins (CIRBP/RPA2) that help to increase DNA repair efficiency and efficacy. This provides interesting evidence that the bowhead whales repairs damaged cells instead of destroying them (2).
Government of Canada. (2023). Release notice: Canadian Cancer Statistics 2023, HPCDP: Vol 44(1), January 2024 - Canada.ca. Canada.ca. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/health-promotion-chronic-disease-prevention-canada-research-policy-practice/vol-44-no-1-2024/canadian-cancer-statistics-2023.html
Firsanov, D., Zacher, M., Tian, X., Zhao, Y., George, J. C., Sformo, T. L., Tombline, G., Seyed Ali Biashad, Gilman, A., Hamilton, N., Patel, A., Straight, M., Lee, M., J. Yuyang Lu, Haseljic, E., Williams, A., Miller, N., Gladyshev, V. N., Zhang, Z., & Vijg, J. (2023). DNA repair and anti-cancer mechanisms in the longest-living mammal: the bowhead whale. BioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory). https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.05.07.539748