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There is a theory that has substantial evidence that "senescence" the technical term for aging is a defense against cancers. Here is a long article about how c

• JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Correlation, but what could the causation possibly be? Cancers and senescence occur late in life, past the reproductive age. Doesn't that mean the correlation cannot be selective?
  • JamesBarney 11y ago
    The article goes into more depth but it's more than just the correlation that aging and cancer both occur with age. One neat thing the article brings up has to do with the p53 protein. People who have only one functional copy of this enzyme have Li–Fraumeni syndrome. Basically they get lots of cancer. On the other hand mice who over express the p53 protein don't get any cancer but age more quickly than other mice. There exists a similar dimension for telomeres. If you have to few you are at higher risk for developing senescent related diseases. If you have too many you're prone to cancer. Basically a senescent cell has decided not to divide anymore because it has determined it would be dangerous to do so. So many of the enzymes/chemicals/genes that push these cells to continue to divide cure senescence related illnesses but lead to higher risk of cancer.