Brief report: The uricase mutation in humans increases our risk for cancer growth.

A loss of uricase increases the risk for tumor growth. Prior studies have shown that the loss of the mutation facilitated the ability of fructose to increase fat which provided a survival advantage for our ancestors that came close to extinction from starvation in the mid Miocene. Today, however, excessive fructose intake is rampant and increasing our risk not only for obesity and metabolic syndrome, but also cancer. Obesity-associated cancer may be due, in part, to a mutation 15 million years ago that acted as a thrifty gene.