system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can insects get cancer?

Just wondering.
gpt
It's possible for any organism to get cancer. So insects can indeed get cancer. On the other hand it's extremely unlikely because insects have such a short lifespan.

Cancer is caused by mutations in genes that cause uncontrolled proliferation. There are many safeguards in place, in fact you likely get cancerous cells all the time in your body, but the safeguards destroy them. Lifeforms that live a long time often have more safeguards than shorter living organisms.

I would say it's highly likely that insects that live for 10+ years such as some cicadas probably do get cancer, and it's exceedingly rare for flies that live a few weeks to get cancer. 

While cancer doesn't kill many insects, molts that go wrong are a something that happens quite often.