It might seem wild, but new research suggests that the cure for some cancer and other age related diseases could be found within a shark.

The shark is often depicted as a villain, the top of the sea-life food chain and a natural born killer However, new research shows that Great White Sharks could hold the secrets to curing cancer and other age-related diseases, thanks to special findings within Shark DNA.

The first map of a great whites shark DNA has revealed mutations that protect the sea creatures against cancer and similar illnesses.

The team of experts at the Save Our Seas Foundation Shark Research Centre at Nova Southeastern University in Florida that are looking into the shark DNA which could help apply the same information into treating age-related illnesses.

A great white sharks ability is nothing short of incredible. The reason for this is most likely down to the face that their DNA hasn’t evolved in a way that ours has.

Shark Genes

The unstable genes in humans are what make us what we are but they also make us very vulnerable to age-related diseases like cancer.

Sharks have been around for a long time and they are basically at the top of their game when it comes to health. They have evolved so their DNA is able to repair itself and so they are more tolerant to damage.

The co-leader on the study, Mahmood Shivji said:

“Genome instability is a very important issue in many serious human diseases. Now we find that nature has developed clever strategies to maintain the stability of genomes in these large-bodied, long-lived sharks.”

Shivji continues saying:

“There’s still tonnes to be learned from these evolutionary marvels, including information that will potentially be useful to fight cancer and age-related diseases, and improve wound-healing treatments in humans, as we uncover how these animals do it.”

The widely feared great white shark has DNA which is one and a half times bigger than human DNA which means that there are things in the human DNA which are coded into the animals that humans just can’t do.

Scientists are hoping to find the secrets to the DNA that lets sharks heal themselves and fight off things like cancer.

The experts think that sharks would also help blood clots and wound healing which is down to their quick ability to recover from physical injuries.