How susceptible is wildlife to cancer? Abegglen et al. analysed 644 necropsy samples from 36 mammalian species, which included 8 elephants. The authors calculated the cancer mortality rates for each species and found that these did not increase with body size or lifespan. Elephants had a particularly low cancer mortality rate despite their size. African elephants have at least 40 alleles of the gene that encodes p53, and elephant peripheral lymphocytes more readily underwent apoptosis after treatment with ionizing radiation than human lymphocytes, which might explain their resistance to cancer.
References
Abegglen, L. M. et al. Potential mechanisms for cancer resistance in elephants and comparative cellular response to DNA damage in humans. JAMA 314, 1850–1860 (2015)
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Alderton, G. Size isn't everything. Nat Rev Cancer 15, 699 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc4054
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc4054