Who knew elephant sharks held potential answers for health problems such as osteoporosis and poor immune systems?
An international team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany discovered new insights into human health by sequencing the elephant-shark genome
See also: 8 Things That Should Terrify You More Than Sharks
Several key findings were made from the sequenced elephant-shark genome, primarily that sharks lack the unique T-helper lymphocytes, which were long considered to be an essential immune-system defense against infections and disease. Without T-helper cells, the human immune system becomes more susceptible to infections, an issue observed in AIDS patients.
For their part, not only are sharks fine without T-helper cells, they also have long lives without them.
“This indicates that nature can come up with different solutions to the same problem," said Thomas Boehm, co-author and director at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.
Researchers hope that this new finding may pave the way for discovering new strategies to combat immune infections.
Hope may also be on the horizon for those who suffer from bone diseases. The research team investigated the makeup of the shark skeleton, which consists completely out of cartilage and no bones. Their genome analysis found that sharks are missing a family of genes that are present in all other bony vertebrates, including humans. Considering that cartilaginous fishes, such as elephant sharks, are the oldest living group of jawed-vertebrates, this missing gene family may hold answers for a deeper understanding of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis.
These findings are published in the latest issue of the science journal, Nature.
Image: Flickr, Horia Varlan