zlacker

>>gpi+(OP)
Ageing itself is a anti-cancer strategy...

>>nikola+74
This is an explicit hypothesis I have heard: that aging arises in part from a compromise between longevity and not getting cancer. Obviously an immortal who gets a bunch of tumors is not immortal.

That cancer cell lines are often immortal is interesting circumstantial evidence for this.

Telomere shortening for example is hypothesized as one stop mechanism for runaway cell division.

My bet would be that this is part of the answer but not the whole answer. Biological systems rarely have one part match one function. Biology is not “designed” the way humans design things.

>>api+c7
There's also some details about how stem cell divide. Stem cells exist just so that they can be clean copies.

I read a paper about the depth of the tree of division of stem cells that also backs up the aging-is-side-effect-of-fighting-cancer. Sorry, I don't remember paper title or better keywords.