[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6429\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EUncovering the secrets of the naked mole-rat\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThese tiny, wrinkly rodents are a bit of an anomaly in the animal kingdom, living for longer than would be expected for their size \u2013 the oldest living naked mole-rat is 32 \u2013 and being largely resistant to cancer. They\u2019re also cold-blooded, which may have something to do with the strange characteristics that they display.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018This animal has some pretty wacky things,\u2019 said Professor Gary Lewin from the Helmholtz Association, Germany, who is working on the EXTREMOPHILE MAMMAL project, funded by the EU\u2019s European Research Council.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThanks to the EU-funded LONGENES project, the naked mole-rat\u2019s genome has now been sequenced to a high level, which has helped projects like EXTREMOPHILE MAMMAL to study them.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELONGENES initially wanted to investigate specific genes in the naked mole-rat, but the project ended up sequencing the naked mole-rat\u2019s entire genome.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt initially focused on genes relating to ageing, a key interest for researcher Dr Jo\u00e3o Pedro de Magalh\u00e3es who is based at the University of Liverpool, UK. He wants to delay the ageing process, and turn back the clock to put a spring in the steps of the elderly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The goal of my work is to make a 70-year-old a 50-year-old. The goal is not just to live longer, it\u2019s to live longer, healthier,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe genome has now been used by a wide range of biologists, also studying the naked mole-rat.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Lewin from the EXTREMOPHILE MAMMAL project says that the naked mole-rat genome sequencing was essential for his work. \u2018My lab is mostly interested in how touch and pain works,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhen he found out that naked mole-rats don\u2019t feel pain, it piqued his curiosity.\u0026nbsp;\u2018We found that the animals were completely insensitive to acid,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThat\u0027s significant because acid is believed to be one of the things that promotes pain. For example, when you have joint inflammation, the fluid surrounding the joint becomes acidic, and it is thought that this acidity activates pain receptors in the brain.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIt started because a colleague of Prof. Lewin was\u0026nbsp;studying naked mole-rats and he noticed that they didn\u0027t seem to be responding to painful stimuli the same way that mice do.\u0026nbsp;Then they checked and\u0026nbsp;found that when they put lemon juice into a wound on a naked mole-rat, it didn\u0027t respond at all.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis project is now taking a closer look at the physiology of the naked mole-rat, using genetic techniques. It turns out that naked mole-rats are extremely resistant to oxidative stress, can survive in areas with low oxygen for long periods of time and are cold-blooded, and all these factors could have an impact on their longevity and their resistance to certain diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECold-blooded mouse\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo investigate further, the researchers on EXTREMOPHILE MAMMAL are now trying to create a mouse which is cold-blooded.\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018We found that the animals were completely insensitive to acid.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProf. Gary Lewin, Helmholtz Association, Germany\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The thing is, we know from evolution that the naked mole-rat is cold-blooded, but its ancestor must have been a homeotherm (warm-blooded),\u2019 said Prof. Lewin. \u2018What was astounding for me was the fact that these are the only cold-blooded mammals. They can\u2019t generate heat at all, it\u2019s just like having a reptile in your hand.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team will transfer genes from naked mole-rats to mice, and see if this has an impact. \u2018We hope that if we can find two or three of these genes (which code for the lack of heat regulation) then we can find the differences in the sequences and we can actually make a mouse which is essentially cold-blooded,\u2019 he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFinding these genes is important because the cold-bloodedness of the naked mole-rat might have something to do with their long lifespan, and their resistance to age-related diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Ageing affects everyone,\u2019 said Dr Magalh\u00e3es, whose lab primarily focuses on ageing. \u2018If we could retard the process of ageing, this would impact on multiple age-related diseases.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EElixir\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIf we do find the elixir of life hidden in the cells of naked mole-rats\u2019 genes though, how could we apply this to humans?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETreatments, the scientists say, could be either gene-based therapies or pharmaceutical, with scientists targeting the relevant genes to make drugs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStroke victims could be another group who would benefit from naked mole-rat research. These little creatures are able to withstand notoriously hostile hypoxic conditions \u2013 living in holes underground where oxygen can drop to as low as 10 %.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStrokes occur when brain cells are deprived of oxygen for only a few minutes, so if scientists could discover the genes that allow naked mole-rats to thrive in low oxygen, this could have a huge impact on the future treatment and prevention of strokes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Lowering temperatures is now very common to reduce brain damage during surgeries,\u2019 Prof. Lewin said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ENaked mole-rats are also of key interest to cancer researchers. Cancer does occur in naked mole-rats, but there are so few incidents of it that many researchers conclude that they are cancer-resistant, though not cancer-immune.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ciframe src=\u0022https:\/\/europa.eu\/webtools\/crs\/iframe\/?oriurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FGrLgYhtoBXA\u0022 width=\u0022560\u0022 height=\u0022315\u0022 frameborder=\u00220\u0022\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EDr Joao Pedro Magalh\u00e3es\u0026nbsp;discusses the link between longevity and genetics at TEDxGhent, in Belgium, in 2015. Video credit: TEDx Talks\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-wynjtjno15w9nyrxipkg1lydslblsw2zxeczahny9us\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-wyNjtjno15w9NYrxiPkG1lYDslBLSw2ZxECZahnY9us\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]