Can Chernobyl’s wolves help us in the fight against cancer? “Their chance of survival from cancer is greater” | Science & Planet

Due to the danger of carcinogenic radiation, more than a hundred thousand local residents had to leave the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the late 1980s. The ‘Chernobyl Exclusion Zone’ (CEZ) was established at that time. Without permission, access to this zone, which covers an area of ​​approximately 2,600 km², is prohibited. Humans never returned after the nuclear disaster, but many other animal species did.

This makes the CEZ a very interesting place to study nature. For example, you can investigate how ecosystems recover after a major catastrophe and how populations behave in the absence of people. In addition, it is the ideal location to discover how organisms in the wild cope with carcinogenic conditions.

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One of the species that appears to thrive in the CEZ is the gray wolf (Canis lupus). The local population has increased significantly and has a density that is seven times greater than in nearby nature reserves. How the animals can survive so successfully despite high radiation levels has long been a mystery. Cara Love, an evolutionary biologist and ecotoxicologist at Princeton University, has been studying wolves in the CEZ for ten years with the aim of finding an answer to this question.

In 2014, Love visited the forbidden zone with her colleagues. They took blood from the wolves and placed collars with a GPS tracker and radiation dosimeter around the necks of some individuals. This allowed them to perform a genetic analysis and get real-time measurements of where the wolves are and how much radiation they were exposed to.

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The data showed that wolves in the CEZ are exposed to more than 11.28 millirems of radiation daily over their lifetime, which is more than six times higher than the legal safety limit for human workers. Love’s research also showed that the animals studied have an adapted immune system compared to conspecifics living elsewhere. That would be similar to that of cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.

In addition, the wolf population in the CEZ also appears to be genetically different from other populations outside it. Love found certain parts in the genome of the irradiated wolves that increase their chance of survival against cancer. These findings are in line with the results of a study on stray dogs in the CEZ.

While this discovery is groundbreaking in itself, Love’s work doesn’t stop there. In the next step of her research, she wants to find out which specific genetic mutations protect wolves against cancer. This knowledge can then hopefully be used to help people overcome the disease. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war have made it no longer possible for Love and her colleagues to visit the CEZ again. So it remains to be seen whether and when new data can be collected. “Our priority is that the people and employees there are as safe as possible,” Love said.

Love presented her research last month at the annual meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology.

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