Elephants Could Hold Secret To Surviving Cancer

Follow CBSPHILLY Facebook  | Twitter

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Elephants could hold the secret to surviving cancer.

Elephants have an uncanny ability to resist the disease and researchers think they have finally figured out how they do it.

It's all thanks to a so-called "zombie gene."

Here's how it works:

Humans and other animals carry one copy of a "master tumor suppressor" gene but elephants have 20 copies.

Scientists hope this information can one day lead to cancer prevention in humans as well.

In:
• Cancer