Ringling Bros.'s majestic pachyderms may spark cancer cure

MANATEE -- Admired by people over the ages for their larger-than-life grandeur, elephants may end up most loved by humans for something in their tiny cells that could lead to a cure for cancer.

Scientists have known for some time that elephants, like bats, whales and sharks, rarely get cancer. Until recently, however, no one had researched exactly why.

By all rights, elephants should be ravaged by cancer since they have so many cells.

"Because they have 100 times as many cells as people, they should be 100 times more likely to have a cell slip into a cancerous state and trigger the disease over their long life span of 50 to 70 years," said Dr. Joshua Schiffman , pediatric oncologist at Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah School of Medicine and Primary Children's Hospital of Salt Lake City.

Schiffman spoke at a dramatic Town Hall meeting at Feld Entertainment headquarters in Ellenton last week. He told Feld employees and guests that research he and colleagues have done over the past three years seems to show elephants kill their damaged cells before they become cancerous.

Humans try to repair their damaged cells, which often mutate into cancer.

Schiffman revealed that elephants are born with 40 copies of a specific tumor-suppressing protein cell called p53, while humans only have two copies of that particular cell.

Schiffman's team collaborated with Utah's Hogle Zoo and Ringling Bros. Center for Elephant Conservation in Polk County to test whether the extra gene copies may protect elephants from can

cer. They took white blood cells from blood drawn from the elephants during wellness checks and intentionally tried to damage the cell DNA, which usually triggers cancer.

The elephant cells reacted to damage attempts by committing suicide, Schiffman said.

"An 'ah-ha' moment was when we learned the elephant cells weren't repairing any faster as we thought they would, but actually they were all dying when they were exposed to any type of DNA damage," Schiffman said.

"This was an ah-ha moment because this is the perfect way to prevent cancer," Schiffman added. "You just get rid of the cell. It's as if you have a car that is breaking down. Instead of going to the shop and getting new parts for the old car, you just get rid of the old car and buy a new one. That's the best way to be assured your car will keep running. So the elephants are taking the same approach -- and now we are trying to figure out how we can use that approach in our patients."

How to use the information

It took Schiffman and others three years of research to come up with the discovery.

Now, the scientists are taking the next step -- how to use what they have learned. Schiffman told the crowd it will be at least three more years before a drug based on the elephant research is available for trials.

"We are still very early on," Schiffman said. "There are several different approaches we can take."

One approach researchers are considering would be to try to find a drug that mimics the effect of the p53, Schiffman said.

"The p53 shunts off these cells to cell death," Schiffman said. "So, is there is a way to actually find a drug that does the same thing? When you take the pill or get the intravenous medicine, it might actually cause the cancer cells to die rather than try to repair so that is one potential way to do the research."

The Utah researchers are working with Dr. Avi Schroeder of the Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology.

Schroeder, who was at the Town Hall meeting, is an expert in targeted drug delivery.

"We are working with Dr. Schroeder and others to find a way to deliver maybe, somehow, the elephant's p53 gene to the patient, directed right to the cancer site," Schiffman said. "Again, it is still early but we are confident. I am being vague because we don't know yet. We haven't done it but this is where we are headed."

Schroeder called the p53 study "the tip of the iceberg." In fact, Schiffman and Schroeder agreed that since elephants also have great memories and remember handlers they have had from years before, maybe they have also found a way to combat dementia.

Feld family thrilled

Kenneth Feld, chairman and chief executive officer of Feld Entertainment, Ringling Bros. parent company, said at the Town Hall that he was struck by the coincidence that the same elephants that once entertained children could now be helping restore their vitality.

Feld has elephants touring in Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and has many elephants at its Center for Elephant Conservation, but Feld will be moving all the elephants out of the circus and to the elephant center by 2018.

"These elephants are captive born and have been for the past 20 years," Feld said. "They grow up with people and they have relationships, and if you think about it this whole thing is about humans that get cancer and elephants that don't get much cancer. We need to have a relationship with the animals and the people, and that's the most important thing."

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Ringling Bros.'s majestic pachyderms may spark cancer cure ."