The placing of SIRT6 as a sensor of DSBs might explain why the lack of SIRT6 gives rise to one of the most striking phenotypes in humans, monkeys and mice, including phenotypes that are typically associated with genomic instability such as premature ageing, accelerated neurodegeneration, tissue atrophy and cancer (Kugel and Mostoslavsky, 2014; Tasselli et al., 2017). The gene discussed is SIRT6; the disease is cancer.