A population of dwarfs in Equador is helping scientists understand the origins of cancer.
(Jeffrey Kofman/ABC News)More Photos
Working with his brother Marco, also a doctor, Guevara is studying cancer rates among the family members of normal height. While Marco collects saliva samples for genetic testing, Jaime collects case histories and data about cancer in the Laron families.
All of the findings are sent to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, for analysis.
Long before researchers at USC knew about the Laron dwarfs in Ecuador, they simulated the exact same genetic mutation in mice. Their theory: turning off the growth hormone receptor could stop cancer from growing by blocking insulin growth factor, or IGF-1. Valter Longo, a professor at the Andrus Gerontology Center, has been working on this project for more than 15 years.
Longo found that the mice "have not only a 50 percent longer lifespan, but they also have less than 50 percent of cancer incidence. The potential application for humans is ... if we confirm that the Laron population down in Ecuador gets cancer at a reduced rate or doesn't get it at all. ? Then we know we have a pretty good evidence that this is a good way to go to prevent cancer so then we could develop drugs, which we're already doing actually, to mimic those mutations, and then use the drugs to prevent cancer."
With millions of dollars in funding from the National Institutes of Health, Longo and other scientists are now working to develop drugs that replicate the Laron mutation and stops the growth of cancer. That drug could be available within a decade. It would have taken much longer if Longo hadn't met Guevara in 2002 and learned about the Laron population in Ecuador.
"This research, the studies of the Laron could, in theory, accelerate our research by many years, maybe 20 years," says Longo. "The population allows the speeding up, because a lot of the data from mice, very clinical data, turns out to be not applicable to humans. Most drugs tested in mice fail in human trials. And now if you have strong evidence from a human population you already have a demonstration that this can work."
Longo believes that as long as the drug is given to adults, side effects could be controlled. He envisions a drug to prevent cancer that is as common as Lipitor and other statins that help prevent heart disease. But researchers still have a long way to go.
"Again, if it is confirmed that this population down in Ecuador does not get cancer or gets cancer at a reduced rate, and once we do have the drugs, and we're working very hard ... and not just us. There are several pharmaceutical companies that are working on these drugs, then these have the potential to have wide applications."
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