Apparently the chinchilla and other small rodents of its type have cells that are better than humans' at sensing when cancer is developing. As soon as cancerous growths are detected, the rodent's body slows down cell division, halting the expansion of the tumor and preventing metastasis. Gorbunova and colleagues suspect that the human body could be induced to do the same thing, essentially curing its own cancer by becoming very efficient at self-monitoring.

One of the interesting outcomes of this study had to do with the rodents' levels of telomerase, an enzyme that regulates cell aging and also causes cancer. According to the University of Rochester:

Gorbunova and colleagues showed that it was not life expectancy, but body mass that regulated the expression of telomerase. Simply having more cells increases the likelihood that one will become cancerous. We humans, as large animals, would likely develop cancer much more often and much earlier if we didn't suppress our telomerase.

So the bigger you are, the more likely you'll start mutating.

Said Gorbunova:

We haven't come across this anticancer mechanism before because it doesn't exist in the two species most often used for cancer research: mice and humans. Mice are short-lived and humans are large-bodied. But this mechanism appears to exist only in small, long-lived animals.

I'm ready to become the first human-chinchilla chimera if it will make me cancer-proof.

Image via FurryAnimalsOhMy.

Novel Anti-Cancer Mechanism Found in Small Rodents [via University of Rochester]

It turns out that when you're under stress, your body releases more of the hormone cortisol, which stimulates that hyper-alert "fight or flight" reflex. While cortisol is good in small doses, over time it erodes the small caps at the end of your chromosomes known as telomeres (the little yellow dots at the end of those blue chromosomes in the picture). Many researchers have long suspected that telomeres would provide a key to longevity because they are quite large in young people and gradually shrink over time as cells divide.

Rita Effros, the researcher who led the UCLA study, believes that she can synthesize a pill that combats stress by putting more telomerase — the substance that builds telomeres — into the body. This would keep those telomeres large, even in the face of large amounts of cortisol. It might also make your body live a lot longer too.

Effros told Eurekalert:

When the body is under stress, it boosts production of cortisol to support a "fight or flight" response. If the hormone remains elevated in the bloodstream for long periods of time, though, it wears down the immune system. We are testing therapeutic ways of enhancing telomerase levels to help the immune system ward off cortisol's effect. If we're successful, one day a pill may exist to strengthen the immune system's ability to weather chronic emotional stress.

And, perhaps, to live much longer lives.

UCLA Study Identifies the Mechanism Behind the Mind-Body Connection [Eurkalert]