Dna2, checkpoint proteins, Pif1 and Mph1 helicases, and Pol32 are all conserved between human and yeast cells, and affect telomere-related human diseases such as cancer, suggesting our observations may be relevant to human disease (Paeschke et al. 2013; Byrd and Raney 2015; Ceccaldi et al. 2016). Here, PIF1 is linked to cancer.