ugly-ass mole rat provides cancer cure

Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 1:13 pm

ok, not actually a cure, but they do have a gene that most mammals don't which prevents them getting cancer:

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2009-10/hideous-rodent-may-provide-cure-cancer

Old Pro Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Posts: 289

I'm probably the only one in the world who thinks curing cancer would be a catastrophe. They'll eradicate it eventually, then heart disease, and malaria... What are the demographic consequences of a world without disease? The earth will be teeming with old people. It's against evolution - but they don't see it. If I get cancer I'll be damned if I try to cure myself. Stop science now! It's a crime against yoomanity, that's what it is.

Old Pro Joined: 09 Jun 2007 Posts: 839 Location: Iowa

They've discovered that a small percentage of lab rats are immune to getting cancer and can even cure themselves if they are injected with virulent strains of cancer. Apparently it's the T-cells that are what is killing the cancer cells. If cancer fighting T-cells are taken and injected into a normal lab rat that has cancer, it is cured of the cancer fairly rapidly. It has been found that somewhere between 10 to 15 percent of the human population is either resistant to getting cancer or immune to it. They think that it is the T-cells in humans that are making the big difference. Now, can T-cells from one human that is immune to cancer be injected into another human with cancer? They are not sure. It might cause bad immune responses because humans are more genetically disparate compared to lab rats who share most genes between them. Sounds like they may be onto something.