Overview
- Researchers report that bowhead whales have strikingly elevated levels of CIRBP, a cold-responsive protein that improves double‑strand DNA break repair and lowers mutation accumulation.
- Introducing bowhead CIRBP into human cells enhanced the efficiency and fidelity of key repair pathways, including homologous recombination and non‑homologous end joining.
- Overexpressing CIRBP in fruit flies increased resistance to radiation and extended lifespan, indicating conserved protective effects across species.
- The team is raising mice with boosted CIRBP and exploring whether brief cold exposure or pharmacological approaches can raise the protein in humans, with any clinical application still unproven.
- Most assays used primary whale skin fibroblasts, and viable tissues were obtained with help from Alaska Iñupiat hunters and transported unfrozen, underscoring both ethical sourcing and current study limits.