{"id":4834,"date":"2026-07-21T12:17:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/gecko-species-could-help-humans-understand-cancer\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T12:17:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T12:17:36","slug":"gecko-species-could-help-humans-understand-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/21\/gecko-species-could-help-humans-understand-cancer\/","title":{"rendered":"Gecko species could help humans understand cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>2026-07-21 12:17:34<\/b><br \/>\n<BR>A striking pet gecko that develops aggressive tumours at an unusually high rate could become an unlikely ally in the fight against cancer, scientists say.<BR><br \/>\nResearchers at the University of Nottingham have found that the &#8220;lemon frost&#8221; leopard gecko, a white-and-yellow colour variety popular in the pet trade, naturally develops cancer in around 80 per cent of individuals.<BR><br \/>\nTheir study, published in BMC Biology, identified genetic changes linked to the disease, many of which affect the same genes and biological pathways involved in human cancers.<BR><br \/>\nScientists hope the reptile could provide valuable insights into how cancer develops and spreads, while also helping explain why some species are highly vulnerable to the disease and others appear naturally resistant.<BR><br \/>\nStudy leader Dr Ylenia Chiari, from the University of Nottingham&#8217;s School of Life Sciences, said: &#8220;By studying why some animals are so susceptible to cancer while others are remarkably resistant, we hope to uncover the different ways species have evolved to deal with cancer.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;Specifically, this gecko could become an incredible model in cancer research because tumors appear naturally at a relatively early age. Together, these natural strategies could inspire new ways of preventing, detecting, and treating cancer in humans.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nUnlike laboratory mice, which often require tumours to be artificially induced, lemon frost geckos develop aggressive cancers naturally, with many spreading throughout the body.<BR><br \/>\nUsing whole-genome sequencing, researchers compared tumour tissue with healthy tissue from the same animals and discovered recurring genetic changes linked to cancer growth.<BR><br \/>\nCo-author Brandon Hastings said: &#8220;Overall, our paper demonstrates the importance of looking across the tree of life in search of answers that are needed to better understand diseases that can have a profound impact on human life, such as cancer.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;Methodologically, it also highlights that the variety of genomic software programs developed to analyse human cancers can be adapted to provide meaningful insights in diverse organisms.&#8221;<BR><br \/>\nDr Scott Glaberman, from the University of Birmingham, added: &#8220;We often look inward to solve human problems, but every species has something to teach us.<BR><br \/>\n&#8220;By studying both animals that are vulnerable to cancer and those that resist it, we have far greater power to understand the disease itself. This is one of the many reasons why protecting biodiversity is so important.&#8221;<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"> Visit Bang Bizarre (main website) <\/a><br \/>\n<br \/><script src=\"https:\/\/geo.dailymotion.com\/player\/xtbac.js\" data-video=\"\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2026-07-21 12:17:34 A striking pet gecko that develops aggressive tumours at an unusually high rate could become an unlikely ally in the fight against cancer, scientists say. Researchers at the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bizarre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4836,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4834\/revisions\/4836"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bangbizarre.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}