"With a maximum lifespan of more than 200 years, the bowhead whale lives longer than any other mammal. But how the 80-tonne beasts survive so long has never been fully explained. Now scientists have found hints of an answer and are drawing up plans to see whether the same biological trick can be performed in humans. If so, it raises hopes for boosting healthy ageing and protecting organs and tissues during surgery and transplantations, they say."
"Through a series of experiments on whale cells, they showed that DNA repair is enhanced by a protein called CIRBP, which is triggered by cold exposure. Bowhead whales spend their lives in Arctic waters and produce 100 times more CIRBP than humans. This strategy, which does not eliminate damaged cells but faithfully repairs them, may be contributing to the exceptional longevity and low cancer incidence in the bowhead whale, the researchers wrote in Nature."
Bowhead whales can live more than 200 years, far longer than any other mammal. Cells accumulate DNA damage over time, and imperfect repairs of double-strand breaks create mutations that raise cancer risk and impair tissue function, contributing to ageing. Bowhead whales show particularly efficient repair of DNA double-strand breaks, resulting in fewer mutations. The protein CIRBP, activated by cold exposure, enhances this repair. Bowheads produce about 100 times more CIRBP than humans. Increasing CIRBP levels in human cells improved double-strand break repair, suggesting potential applications for boosting healthy ageing and protecting organs during surgery and transplantation.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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