This is not a presumption I made. This is believed by many scientists. Telomeres are just part of the story. There are many other reasons[1,2,3]. The third link is not a paper so very readable.<p>The cell has many ways to combat oncogenesis and when these protections fail, it tries to go into senescence (SIGTERM) or die(SIGKILL).<p>Nanobots that would replace damaged cells with new non-cancerous ones are not yet here.<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.impactaging.com&#x2F;papers&#x2F;v2&#x2F;n7&#x2F;full&#x2F;100178.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.impactaging.com&#x2F;papers&#x2F;v2&#x2F;n7&#x2F;full&#x2F;100178.html</a>
[2] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;nrc&#x2F;journal&#x2F;v3&#x2F;n1&#x2F;full&#x2F;nrc984.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nature.com&#x2F;nrc&#x2F;journal&#x2F;v3&#x2F;n1&#x2F;full&#x2F;nrc984.html</a>
[3] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;newscenter.lbl.gov&#x2F;2008&#x2F;12&#x2F;02&#x2F;cellular-senescence&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;newscenter.lbl.gov&#x2F;2008&#x2F;12&#x2F;02&#x2F;cellular-senescence&#x2F;</a>