April 26, 2024

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Gene mutation makes humans more susceptible to cancer than other primates

Gene mutation makes humans more susceptible to cancer than other primates



 

Gene mutation makes humans more susceptible to cancer than other primates


According to the website of the British “New Scientist” magazine recently reported that a new study carried out by American scientists shows that after “parting ways” with other primates in the evolutionary path, a small mutation in the human BRCA2 gene makes us more susceptible to cancer , and the reason behind it may be to obtain better fertility, this research conclusion is expected to lead to new anti-cancer therapy.

 

Gene mutation makes humans more susceptible to cancer than other primates

 

Cancer is relatively rare in other primates. For example, autopsies of 971 nonhuman primates that died at the Philadelphia Zoo between 1901 and 1932 found that only eight had tumors.

 

To understand why humans are more susceptible to cancer, Christina Iacobzio Donahue of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and colleagues compared hundreds of human and 12 nonhuman primate species.

They found that since humans and chimpanzees “parted ways” in the evolutionary path, there have been some changes in the BRCA2 gene in humans.

 

BRCA2 is known as a tumor suppressor gene because it is involved in DNA repair. But the researchers found that a change in a DNA letter in the human BRCA2 gene reduced its ability to repair DNA by 20 percent compared to the gene in other primates, which could explain why humans are compared to other primates. Animals are more prone to cancer.

 

Yacobzio Donahue said that we don’t yet know why BRCA2 is less active in humans than in other primates. One possibility is that reducing BRCA2 activity could improve fertility in humans, as studies have shown that women with cancer-linked BRCA2 variants appear to be more likely to become pregnant. If so, the increased human fertility may come at the cost of higher cancer rates.

 

Mutations in the BRCA2 gene may be the main cause of cancer in humans, and the discovery could lead to new treatments, she said. For example, one could theoretically modify the human BRCA2 gene to be closer to the gene found in other non-human primates.

 

 

 

Gene mutation makes humans more susceptible to cancer than other primates

(source:internet, reference only)


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