There is a great deal of overlap between research into aging and cancer; both result from the same mechanisms of cellular life span. The BBC reports on the relationship between cellular senescence and certain cancers: senescence, "which is part of aging and is controlled by certain genes, results in cells - and tumours - failing to respond to normal growth signals. Men with prostate cancer lack the genes that appear to mediate this process ... [a study] in mice suggests correcting this could be a way to prevent prostate tumour growth." In the recent past, another group "found senescence kept human moles in a non-cancerous state for year, and without it they could develop into a dangerous form of skin cancer called malignant melanomas in the lab. Similarly, a team from Germany showed that cellular senescence is capable of blocking a cancer called lymphoma in mice."

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4729447.stm