Tópico: Ratos cegos podem ser a chave para a cura do câncer

[EuSouOqueSou]

Tô com preguiça de ajeitar, vai só o link mesmo, se virem

http://www.nature.com/news/blind-mole-rats-may-hold-key-to-cancer-1.11741

[Gaúcho]

Acabei de compartilhar sobre isso no meu FB.

Um "resuminho":

Out of all mammals, mole rats are the only ones never known to develop cancer. A new study has determined how blind mole rats can do this and it's hoped that these results will help usher in new treatments.

To look at how these rodents resist cancer Vera Gorbunova (University of Rochester, New York) and her team took cell samples and forced them to multiply beyond what normally occurs in the animal. After around 15-20 divisions cells started dying. Examination of the cells revealed they had produced a protein known as Interferon beta which killed both abnormal cells and the cells surrounding them. Researchers determined that when cells multiplied past a particular point they released this "suicidal protein". So it seems blind mole rats do develop cancerous cells, but these cells destroy themselves.

Blind mole rats are not the only mole rats to evade cancer. Three years ago it was found that the naked mole rat has a specific gene that makes cancerous cells sensitive to overcrowding - when these cells reach a high density they stop dividing. Researchers had expected to find a similar mechanism in the blind mole rat, only to discover it had evolved its own anti-cancer system.

The next step is to find out what triggers this interferon-beta release. "The cells have some way of sensing when they are overproliferating, but we still don’t know precisely how they sense that,” Gorbunova says. “This is what we need to find out next, because it could provide some clue as to how we could activate the same process in human cells.”