Naked mole rat cells display more efficient DNA excision repair and higher resistance to toxic impacts than mouse cells

¹ Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation
² Novosibirsk State University, 630090, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

Abstract

Naked mole rat is the long-lived and tumor-resistant rodent. Naked mole rat possesses multiple adaptations that may contribute to longevity and cancer-resistance. Higher activity of DNA excision repair systems and their faster recovery after genotoxic impact as compare with Mus musculus directly demonstrated in our previous investigation contribute to longevity and cancer resistance of naked mole rat. In the present study the DNA-damage-induced apoptosis in naked mole rat fibroblasts was studied using conventional methods. The ability of naked mole rat cells to undergo regulated cell death in response to genotoxic stress is another group of cell defense mechanisms. Naked mole rat skin fibroblasts were demonstrated to be much more resistant towards proapoptotic reagents methyl methanesulfonate, 5-fluorouracil and etoposide as compared with fibroblasts of Mus musculus. Naked mole rat cells have demonstrated limited apoptotic response and seem to undergo also other-type regulated cell death under severe genotoxic stress.