Scientists have discovered the chemical that makes naked mole rats cancer-proof, a finding that could eventually lead to new cancer treatments.
Naked mole rats are small, hairless, subterranean rodents that have never been known to get cancer, despite having a 30-year lifespan.
Researchers led by Andrei Seluanov and Vera Gorbunova from the University of Rochester discovered that these rodents are protected from cancer because their tissues are very rich with high molecular weight hyaluronan (HMW-HA).
The biologists' focus on HMW-HA began after they noticed that a gooey substance in the naked mole rat culture was clogging the vacuum pumps and tubing.
They also observed that, unlike the naked mole rat culture, other media containing cells from humans, mice, and guinea pigs were not viscous.
"We needed to understand what the goo was," said Seluanov.
Gorbunova and Seluanov identified the substance as HMW-HA, which caused them to test its possible role in naked mole rat's cancer resistance.
They then showed that when HMW-HA was removed, the cells became susceptible to tumours, confirming that the chemical did play a role in making naked mole rats cancer-proof.
The team also identified the gene, named HAS2, responsible for making HMW-HA in the naked mole rat. Surprisingly, the naked mole rat gene was different from HAS2 in all other animals.
In addition the naked mole rats were very slow at recycling HMW-HA, which contributed to the accumulation of the chemical in the animals' tissues.
The next step will be to test the effectiveness of HMW-HA in mice. If that test goes well, Seluanov and Gorbunova hope to try the chemical on human cells.
"There's indirect evidence that HMW-HA would work in people. It's used in anti-wrinkle injections and to relieve pain from arthritis in knee joints, without any adverse effects. Our hope is that it can also induce an anti-cancer response," said Seluanov.
"We think it's possible to learn strategies for preventing tumours by studying animals that are cancer-proof," said Gorbunova.
The two biologists identified HMW-HA as the chemical that activates the anti-cancer response of the p16 gene.
The study appears in the journal Nature.
