11 FEB 2011 by ideonexus
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 i...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.