The findings, presented in today's issue of the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat's cells express a gene called p16
that makes the cells "claustrophobic," stopping the cells' proliferation when
too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start.
The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to
induce a tumor, the cells' growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells
became fully cancerous.

"We think we've found the reason these mole rats don't get cancer, and it's a bit of a surprise," say Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov, professors of biology at the University of Rochester and lead investigators on the discovery. "It's very early to speculate about the implications, but if the effect of p16 can be simulated in humans we might have a way to halt cancer before it starts."