Longevity Genes Fight Back at Cancer

Nature takes a first look at research suggesting that certain genetic mutations that increase life span in the roundworm C. elegans also reduce the growth of tumors in the worm. The research, to be published in Science, was conducted by UCSF Biochemistry and Biophysics Professor Cynthia Kenyon, PhD, and colleagues. "These animals still live twice as long as normal, even though they've got a tumor," says Kenyon. "It's really amazing." Links: "Longevity Genes Fight Back at Cancer"
Nature, August 17, 2006 "Can Kenyon's Roundworms Lead Us to the Fountain of Youth?"
UCSF Today, July 7, 2006 "Cynthia Kenyon: Probing the Prospects of Perpetual Youth"
UCSF Magazine, May 2003 Wormworld (Kenyon's lab)

"Mutations That Increase the Life Span of C. elegans Inhibit Tumor Growth" Julie M. Pinkston, Delia Garigan, Malene Hansen, Cynthia Kenyon Science, 18 August 2006 313(5789):971-975 Abstract | Full Text | Full Text (PDF)