Shafaqna English- Researchers are working to gain insight on cancer mysteries. In the culmination of a decade-long effort, they have completed a compilation of cancer prevalence across 292 species of vertebrates, including amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.
This broad look at cancer prevalence — the largest study of its kind — could allow researchers opportunities to investigate the strategies of species with exceptional cancer resistance. Among the least likely to develop tumors that could lead to cancer? The common porpoise and the black-footed penguin. Among the most likely? Ferrets and opossums. But these are among the outliers, the most extreme cases.
Researchers said that animals with longer gestation times, which is associated with bigger bodies, tend to get fewer cancers. The researchers hypothesize that vertebrates that have longer gestation times are also investing more resources toward avoiding mutations.
“Bigger, long-lived species invest more in somatic maintenance, researcher expect them to be better at defending against cancer, because they have to, in order to grow big and live long.
One benefit of this data is that it could broaden the options for cancer research. Studies tend to focus on rodent models, however animals that get cancer more spontaneously, or tend to get different types, might provide better data for researchers of cancer and rare diseases.
The next step for this researchers is to examine specific types of cancer across species.