article_snippet: But the extinct species could be taking revenge on us from beyond the grave by making us more vulnerable to potentially killer diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
article_snippet: These 'legacy' genes have been linked to an increased risk from cancer and diabetes by new studies looking at our evolutionary history.
article_snippet: However, some genes our inherited could have also improved our immunity to other diseases.
article_snippet: Other researchers have suggested that humans outside Africa are more vulnerable to Type 2 Diabetes because humans outside Africa interbred with Neanderthals.
article_snippet: Researchers from Oxford and Plymouth universities have also found that genes thought to be risk factors in cancer were present in the Neanderthal genome.
article_snippet: A gene that can cause diabetes in Latin Americans is also thought to have come from Neanderthals, long before Latin Americans ancestors colonised the New World.