Are there any genes in humans that can protect them against cancer? This is the question that a new research funded by Canadian Cancer Society and to be carried out by geneticists at British Columbia will look to answer.
The study will be examining 500 super seniors – at least the age of 85 – who have never developed cancer, heart disease, major lung ailments, stroke, diabetes or dementia. Researchers believe that genes of these super seniors may have the answer to why few people never get cancer and some do. The study is expected to take at least two years to complete.
“It appears that some of these amazingly healthy super seniors, who are still active and busy at an advanced age, could be genetically protected from cancer-causing mutations,” says the study’s lead investigator Dr. Angela Brooks-Wilson of the BC Cancer Agency and Simon Fraser University.
Brooks-Wilson and her team have gathered data on these 500 super seniors by gathering information on their medical, family and lifestyle. They also collected blood samples, and tested their physical and mental functions. The genes of these super seniors will be compared with those of more than 100,000 people, some who have cancer and some who don’t.
“We already know that many people who live to an incredibly healthy old age actually do have gene sequences that contribute to cancer in the general population, but for some reason they do not develop the disease. We suspect there is something that protects them from getting sick by overriding the cancer-causing genes,” says Brooks-Wilson.
The ultimate goal of this research is to identify possible genetic “override switches,” which could eventually lead to the development of anti-cancer drugs. It’s possible that such drugs, combined with a healthy lifestyle, could help other people to have a lower risk of getting cancer.
The study is expected to take at least two years to complete and has been funded by a generous group of donors who responded to the Cancer Society’s appeal to raise $200,000 in one week to fund an innovation grant.
It’s like this. we breed animals for bigger, stronger
and better. This was started long before we had
all these inoculations for this problem or that.
Then people started breeding willie, nillie and
we have all these problems. My grand parents
parents and myself breed for health, size and
no sickness in our mates. All were 99-113 in
age before passing. I’m well up there and still
healthy. No, you can not use me for a sample.
Let natural selection take the weak out and
mother nature will do the rest.