Cancer research in need of a scientific revolution: Using 'paradigm shift' as a method of investigation

Journal of Biosciences
Didier WionBoudewijn van der Sanden

Abstract

Despite important human and financial resources and considerable accumulation of scientific publications, patents, and clinical trials, cancer research has been slow in achieving a therapeutic revolution similar to the one that occurred in the last century for infectious diseases. It has been proposed that science proceeds not only by accumulating data but also through paradigm shifts. Here, we propose to use the concept of 'paradigm shift' as a method of investigation when dominant paradigms fail to achieve their promises. The first step in using the 'paradigm shift' method in cancer research requires identifying its founding paradigms. In this review, two of these founding paradigms will be discussed: (i) the reification of cancer as a tumour mass and (ii) the translation of the concepts issued from infectious disease in cancer research. We show how these founding paradigms can generate biases that lead to over-diagnosis and over-treatment and also hamper the development of curative cancer therapies. We apply the 'paradigm shift' method to produce perspective reversals consistent with current experimental evidence. The 'paradigm shift' method enlightens the existence of a tumour physiologic-prophylactic-pathologic continuum. ...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 22, 2016·Neuro-oncology·David RatelDidier Wion
Jul 11, 2018·BioEssays : News and Reviews in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology·Tanguy ChabrolDidier Wion

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