A study on C. elegans roundworms has uncovered genes that delay ageing and also protects against cancer.

According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, their study underscores the deep evolutionary connection between lifespan and cancer. They also said their findings indicate that cellular changes leading to longevity antagonize tumour cell growth.

The scientists found that many of the worm genes have counterparts in humans, suggesting that new drugs may some day ensure a long, cancer-free life.

Study author, Cynthia Kenyon previously carried out a study in worms in 1993, wherein she found that a change in just one gene, called daf-2, doubled the worms’ lifespan.

This finding led to the understanding that lifespan is regulated by genes and is therefore changeable, rather than the inevitable result of the body’s breakdown. The discovery in worms has been confirmed in other animals including mice.

“There is a widely held view that any mechanism that slows aging would probably stimulate tumour growth. But we found many genes that increase lifespan, but slow tumour growth. Humans have versions of many of these genes, so this work may lead to treatments that keep us youthful and cancer-free much longer than normal,” Nature quoted Kenyon, as saying.

Since her early finding that the gene daf-2 and another gene known as daf-16 regulate lifespan, her research team has hoped to identify the genes that they in turn affect -- those that more directly affect aging and tumour growth.