We argue that the human evolutionary heritage with frequent adaptations through geological time to environmental change has affected a trade-off between offspring variability and cancer resistance, and thus favored cancer-prone individuals. We turn the attention to a factor setting the highly cancer-resistant naked mole rat apart from most other mammals: it has remained phenotypically largely unchanged since 30-50 million years ago. Research focusing on DNA stability mechanisms in 'living fossil' animals may help us find tools for cancer prevention and treatment.
Keywords: Heterocephalus glaber; Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary; Peto's paradox; cancer resistance; human cancer excess; human mutation rate; naked mole rat; rapid human evolution.
© 2019 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.