The stem cell division theory of cancer

Critical Reviews in Oncology/hematology
Miguel López-Lázaro

Abstract

All cancer registries constantly show striking differences in cancer incidence by age and among tissues. For example, lung cancer is diagnosed hundreds of times more often at age 70 than at age 20, and lung cancer in nonsmokers occurs thousands of times more frequently than heart cancer in smokers. An analysis of these differences using basic concepts in cell biology indicates that cancer is the end-result of the accumulation of cell divisions in stem cells. In other words, the main determinant of carcinogenesis is the number of cell divisions that the DNA of a stem cell has accumulated in any type of cell from the zygote. Cell division, process by which a cell copies and separates its cellular components to finally split into two cells, is necessary to produce the large number of cells required for living. However, cell division can lead to a variety of cancer-promoting errors, such as mutations and epigenetic mistakes occurring during DNA replication, chromosome aberrations arising during mitosis, errors in the distribution of cell-fate determinants between the daughter cells, and failures to restore physical interactions with other tissue components. Some of these errors are spontaneous, others are promoted by endogenous DNA...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 30, 2019·Medical Sciences : Open Access Journal·Claudio TabolacciSimone Beninati
Oct 11, 2019·Cell Biochemistry and Biophysics·John J EvansPeter H Sykes
Feb 23, 2020·Cancer Cell International·Xiaohui ZhaoYan Zhang
May 16, 2020·Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics·Peter De HaanMiguel G Toscano
Apr 7, 2020·Current Pharmaceutical Design·James T OswaldShirley Tang
Jun 18, 2019·Dose-response : a Publication of International Hormesis Society·Kenneth T Bogen
Jun 26, 2021·Clinical & Translational Oncology : Official Publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico·M HuC Lu
Jan 11, 2022·ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces·Diego Herrera-OchoaAndrés Garzón-Ruiz

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