"In regular deer, the researchers found eight active genes that are normally involved in promoting tumor formation and growth. That suggests, Qiu says, that antler growth is more like that of bone cancer than that of typical bones. However, in contrast to bone cancer, where tumors grow unchecked, antler growth is tightly regulated by the activity of tumor-suppressing and tumor-growth-inhibiting genes, the team reports.
“Deer antlers [are] using essentially a controlled form of bone cancer growth,” says Edward Davis, an evolutionary paleobiologist at the University of Oregon in Eugene who was not involved with the work. The involvement of the tumor-promoting genes isn’t surprising, he says; what’s surprising is the involvement of the cancer-controlling genes.
But that surprise may have done more than just turbocharge deer antler growth. The cancer-suppressing genes that keep growth in check also protect against cancer in general, Qiu says. Zoos, for example, have documented cancer rates in deer that are five times lower than rates in other mammals—perhaps, Davis says, a “happy accident” of antler evolution"
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