3A-O1-1040 PDF
Tumor resistance, longevity and sociality of the naked mole-rat.
The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber, NMR), a eusocial subterranean mammal native to Africa, is the longest-lived rodent (maximum lifespan, 30 years); its body mass, however, is similar to that of the house mouse (M. musculus). NMRs exhibit extraordinary resistance to cancer, which has almost never been detected in long-term observations of captured NMR colonies. Recently, we have found that NMR somatic cells exhibit a tumour-suppressor response to reprogramming induction. Induced pluripotent stem cells derived from naked mole-rat lack teratoma-forming tumorigenicty resulting from a naked mole-rat-specific safeguard mechanism. We are now studying the mechanisms of NMR’s interesting characteristics such as low metabolism and unique sociality using metabolomics-based approaches. We will present our recent progress.