Cancer is an Early Form of Life on Earth

The genes of cellular cooperation that evolved with multicellularity about a billion years ago are the same genes that malfunction to cause cancer. We hypothesize that cancer is an atavistic condition that occurs when genetic or epigenetic malfunction unlocks an ancient 'toolkit' of pre-existing adaptations, re-establishing the dominance of an earlier layer of genes that controlled loose-knit colonies of only partially differentiated cells, similar to tumors. The existence of such a toolkit implies that the progress of the neoplasm in the host organism differs distinctively from normal Darwinian evolution. Comparative genomics and the phylogeny of basal metazoans, opisthokonta and basal multicellular eukaryotes should help identify the relevant genes and yield the order in which they evolved. This order will be a rough guide to the reverse order in which cancer develops, as mutations disrupt the genes of cellular cooperation. Our proposal is consistent with current understanding of cancer and explains the paradoxical rapidity with which cancer acquires a suite of mutually-supportive complex abilities. Finally we make several predictions and suggest ways to test this model.

Notes:

It grows similar to early multicellular life and may be the result of later genes in our bodies which are meant to suppress it malfunctioning.

Folksonomies: evolution biology cancer

Taxonomies:
/health and fitness/disease/cancer (0.544119)
/hobbies and interests/astrology (0.354169)
/health and fitness/disease (0.177652)

Keywords:
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Entities:
Cancer:HealthCondition (0.923057 (negative:-0.667176)), neoplasm:HealthCondition (0.264772 (positive:0.309643)), mutually-supportive:City (0.213323 (negative:-0.515394)), billion years:Quantity (0.213323 (neutral:0.000000))

Concepts:
Biology (0.982887): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Evolution (0.949396): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Organism (0.915391): dbpedia | freebase
Cell (0.912579): dbpedia | freebase
Genetics (0.831601): dbpedia | freebase | opencyc
Life (0.802340): dbpedia | freebase
Gene (0.789006): dbpedia | freebase
DNA (0.786473): website | dbpedia | freebase | yago

 Cancer tumors as Metazoa 1.0: tapping genes of ancient ancestors
Periodicals>Journal Article:  Davies, P C W and Lineweaver, C H (2011), Cancer tumors as Metazoa 1.0: tapping genes of ancient ancestors, Physical Biology, Volume 8, Number 1, Retrieved on 2011-02-11
  • Source Material [iopscience.iop.org]
  • Folksonomies: evolution biology cancer life science


    Schemas

    04 SEP 2011

     Why Evolution is True

    Memes that support the Theory of Evolution
     32