Chernobyl wolves develop anticancer genes

Chernobyl wolves genes mutate to become more resistant to Cancer

The nuclear disaster at Chernobyl transformed the area around the nuclear power plant into a haven for wild animals and plants, which have lived undisturbed by humans for 40 years. Affected by radiation, many, such as wolves, have mutated their genes, becoming more resistant to cancer. In 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union) exploded due to a serious failure in its safety mechanisms.



40 years of Exclusion for Chernobyl

The entire population was evacuated, and a Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was delineated within a 30-kilometer radius around the plant, covering around 5,000 square kilometers. For 40 years, people have been prohibited from accessing this zone, allowing wild animals, domestic dogs, and abandoned pets to thrive without human interference, albeit at the cost of exposure to radiation from the destroyed nuclear plant.


Study of Wolves Genes through dna samples and tracking collars in Chernobyl

Cara Love, an evolutionary biologist and ecotoxicologist at Princeton University, has spent a decade studying the wolves of Chernobyl. She has taken blood samples and fitted them with tracking collars, which not only marked their positions to determine their proximity to the plant but also measured real-time radiation.


Radiation results in Chernobyl Wolves

Over the years of collar readings, on average, these wolves have been exposed, throughout their lives, to radiation of 11.28 milirem, six times the maximum permitted for humans. In a recent study, Dr. Love explains that blood analyses of the Chernobyl wolves reveal immune system alterations similar to those experienced by cancer patients undergoing radiation treatments.




Changes discovered in Chernobyl wolves reveals more cancer resistant genes than before

They have also identified changes in their genome, making them more resistant to cancer.
Now, the researcher's objective is to determine if these anticancer genetic alterations in the mutant Chernobyl wolves can be applied to cancer treatments in humans. Unfortunately, the invasion of Ukraine has halted all field research.

Hopefully one day soon we will discover a cure for all type's of cancer, but who knows maybe it alredy exists.

#biology #health #health news #science news #animals #nature

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