Stem Cells, Cancer and Ageing

Recent studies on the effect of polymorphisms in human tumor suppressor pathways on cancer incidence and longevity have confirmed long held views of the link between the key processes that control human aging and cancer incidence. One interpretation of these findings is that the stem cell is the key target for carcinogenesis.

Further, the thresholds that regulate stem cell death in response to damage make the bargain between too-resilient stem cells, which result in long life but increased cancer risk, and too-sensitive stem cells, which ablate the occurrence of cancer but can shorten life span through stem cell exhaustion. Dramatic progress in the understanding of signaling pathways and points of intervention which will be debated in this meeting offers the enticing prospect of regulating these pathways to extend healthy lifespan and reduce cancer incidence in the human population.

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