Gene Called Link Between Life Span and Cancers - New York Times

There was an interesting article in the Science section of the New York Times discussing the discovery of a gene which shuts down stem cells as a person ages, in order to protect the person from cancer, which is a side effect of stem cell creation and division.

The finding suggests that many degenerative diseases of aging are caused by an active shutting down of the stem cells that renew the body’s various tissues and are not just a passive disintegration of tissues under daily wear and tear. “I don’t think aging is a random process — it’s a program, an anticancer program,” said Dr. Norman E. Sharpless of the University of North Carolina, senior author of one of the three reports.

It leads to some potential insight as to why older patients tend to have more difficulty after stem cell transplants.