Testing Nature’s Defenses: Inducing Cancer in the Naked Mole Rat
Abstract
Although mice develop lung cancer from a single Eml4-Alk driver fusion, Shepard, Lester, and colleagues show that naked mole rats require three simultaneous oncogenic events: Eml4-Alk, Tp53 loss, and Rb1 loss, achieving only 30% tumor penetrance. This inducible cancer model in naked mole rats offers a unique platform for uncovering mechanisms of cancer resistance and modeling rare pleomorphic lung carcinomas. See related article by Shepard et al., p. 35.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Cancer-related Molecular Pathways
Veterinary Oncology Research
Telomeres
Telomerase
and Senescence
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Cancer Discovery
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7–9
- Publication date
- 12 January 2026
- Language
- EN