Defying Cancer
Cancer is probably one of the most troublesome diseases that people of all age groups are affected by. Finding a proper cure and prevention for cancer has been a topic that is still being researched by many scientists around the world. Yet the treatments available for cancer are harmful to the patient themselves. And this seemingly non contagious disease can also be inherited, which makes its prevention harder as nowadays a lot of people have cancer, globally causing about 10 million deaths per year.
But as we all know problems do have solutions. While all of us have been suffering in pandemic, scientists have never stopped working. According to recent findings by scientists, a gecko apparently can defy skin tumours. Sounds like a heaven-defying glitch, doesn’t it? These lizards have coloured skin that highly stands out, which has also been associated with having a high risk of getting skin cancer. These geckos Euplepharis macularius are a variety of leopard geckos and are called lemon frost due to their colouring, which is stark white skin with yellow colouring. The gene that causes this unique colouring has been associated with the gene that is responsible for skin cancer melanoma in humans.
The gene from the lemon frost has been identified and linked to a specific part of the genome, which would be highly beneficial to study skin cancer in humans as well as other organisms. The researchers have found out through research that the geckos had developed a mutation of the gene SPINT1, which has been reported to cause cancer in humans, zebrafish and mice. This gene causes an overproduction of iridophores or pigment-producing cells, which gives them their unique colour, but also causes cancer. Contrarily, the scientists are also guessing that there could be tumour suppressing gene that is preventing the formation of cancer cells. These tumours may help scientists finally start to form actual treatments for skin cancer and further tumour research.
