Since we split from Chimpanzees, a single letter change in our genes appears to have made us more likely to get cancer, possibly as a trade-off for extra fertility.
By Alice Klein.
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New research suggests that a tiny change in our genes after we evolved away from other primate has made us more prone to getting cancer.
Cancer is rare in other primate. The autopsies of 971 non-human primates that died at Philadelphia Zoo in Pennsylvania between 1901 and 1932 found that only eight had tumours.
Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue and her colleagues compared hundreds of genes between humans and non-human primate species to learn why we are more susceptible to cancer.
Since we split from Chimpanzees, they discovered a slightly different version of a gene.
The genes that are involved in DNA repair are known as tumour suppressor genes. The researchers found that a single DNA letter change in the humanBRCA2 gene has made it 20 per cent worse at repairing DNA compared with other primate versions of the gene, which could explain our higher cancer rates.
Existing knowledge about the role ofBRCA2 in human cancer has been added by the finding. We know that people with certain variations of the BRCA2 gene have a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
We don't know why humans are less active than other primate. She says that research shows that women with a certain type of cancer are more likely to become pregnant.
She says that the fertility boost may have been at the cost of higher cancer rates.
Iacobuzio-Donahue says that the discovery of a single flaw in the BRCA2 gene could lead to new treatments.
She says that we could rewrite our genes to make them more similar to non-human primate versions that are associated with lower cancer rates.
Cell Reports is a journal.
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