Church somewhere along the Thames
Left to right: Derek, irascible captain of our river boat; our two fellow passengers (names long since forgotten); Linda
Wow! Daughter Kristen
has alerted me to a fascinating article about elephants and cancer. It seems that elephants rarely get cancer, at
least when compared with humans, even though they have far more cells in which
mutations can accumulate. My
simple-minded understanding is that mutations can occur spontaneously and
randomly, even in the absence of what sophisticated people seem to want to call
“mutagens”. (Yes, I know that elephants
don’t smoke, but they don’t use sun block, either.) If the “right” kinds of mutations accumulate,
cancer will develop. Thus it should
follow that elephants, having vastly more cells than even the largest humans
(even the defensive line of the Green Bay Packers), they should get more cancer. But they don’t.
Well, it turns out that evolution or some higher power has
provided them with protection. There is a
gene, p53 by name, which codes for a protein which acts as a tumor suppressor; that
is, it functions as a brake on uncontrolled cellular division. As you know, uncontrolled cellular division
is one way to describe cancer. We humans
have two copies of the p53 gene; elephants have very many more. Thus, if one or two of our genes gets screwed
up we are potentially in hot water, whereas the elephant has many to
spare. Great, simple story. I hope I understand it.
So, doesn’t that suggest a way to grapple effectively with a
whole range of cancers? We can splice stuff
into genomes; half the food we eat has been modified in that way (I know you
didn’t want to hear that. Get over
it.) So why can’t we simply splice extra
copies of the p53 gene into the germline of everybody? Of course, that would take more money than
exists in the visible universe, but it is a thought. I may have the biology totally screwed up
here, too, and if I do I hope somebody will set me straight.
The Seahawks lost today - but they were wearing pink. Maybe breast cancer lost, too.
We have talked about p53 several times before. Here are the two more relevant entries.
ReplyDeletehttp://ljb-quiltcutie.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-universal-cancer-cure-maybe-start.html
http://ljb-quiltcutie.blogspot.com/2013/03/p53-apoptosis-cancer-and-babushka-dolls.html
Yes, it seems like it should be an easy cure. But when you insert genes into someone's genome, you have to put them in a place that won't harm a gene that is already there and necessary. I think that's the hard part. But how about creating a medicine made up of p53 protein that people can take as a cancer prevention?
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