Of all the animals that may hold answers and clues for health problems humans have, who would have thought it would be the elephant shark?

According to a team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Germany, they discovered some new insights into human health by sequencing the elephant shark genome.

The 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.

But sharks are fine without t-helper cells.

“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 this finding may help find new strategies to combat immune infections. These findings are published in the latest issue of the science journal, Nature.