How and why could a gene that stunts growth also shut down cancer and diabetes?

USC biogerontologist Valter Longo and Ecuadorian endocrinologist Jaime Guevara-Aguirre are hoping to find the answer in a study of 30 individuals from Ecuador who visited Los Angeles. The researchers hope the results will lead medicine to pharmaceuticals or controlled diets achieving the same apparent protection from major diseases as Laron syndrome, the growth-stunting genetic mutation shared by 16 of the 30 visitors.