Age and weight are known risk factors for cancer development, so why do some of earth’s largest and longest-lived animals—whales—have relatively low cancer rates? This is the question a multi-institute group of scientists led by Marc Tollis, an assistant professor at Northern Arizona University, are seeking to answer.
The team analyzed genomic data to gain an understanding of cancer suppression in cetaceans. Their findings were published this week in Molecular Biology and Evolution.
For the study, the team obtained a federal research permit to obtain skin samples from an adult female humpback whale off the coast of Massachusetts. This individual whale was selected for the study due to her well-documented life history following a study by the Center for Coastal Studies in the mid-1970s. The team sequenced and assembled the whale’s genome and RNA.
The humpback genome was compared to those of other animals including those of other large oceanic mammals, such as the blue whale, fin whale, bowhead whale and sperm whale. This led to the discovery that some parts of the whale genome have evolved faster than in other mammals. Specifically, parts of the genome containing genes that control cell cycle, cell proliferation, and DNA repair appeared to have evolved faster than others. Many of these genes are known to be mutated in human cancers. They also discovered that the whale genome has evolved many duplications in tumor suppressor genes.
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These findings indicate that such changes are compatible with life, opening the door for further exploration of ways that cancer be prevented in humans.
The study expands on previous research done by the ASU team that found lower cancer rates in elephants and other mammals were linked to unique genetic adaptations. The team suspects the same to likely be true of dinosaurs, the largest to ever walk this earth. The next steps will be to study the cancer suppression phenotype in whale cell lines. This will be the first step in generating whale-derived human cancer drugs.
Image: Salt, the adult female humpback whale whose genome was analyed for this study, taken by the Center for Coastal Studies under NOAA research permit 16325. Image courtesy of Northern Arizona University.