At first glance, cancer and ageing would seem to be unlikely bedfellows. Yet the origins for this improbable union can actually be traced back to a sequence of tragic—and some say unethical—events that unfolded more than half a century ago. Here we review the series of key observations that has led to a complex but growing convergence between our understanding of the biology of ageing and the mechanisms that underlie cancer.

1. Cardiology Branch, NIH, NHLBI, Building 10/CRC 5-3330, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
2. Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO) 3 Melchor Fernandez Almagro Street, Madrid 28029, Spain

Correspondence to: Toren Finkel¹ Correspondence should be addressed to T.F. (Email: finkelt@nih.gov).

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