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Updated: May 21, 2026
07:47
Multiomics Analysis of TMEM200A as a Pan-Cancer Biomarker
Published on: September 15, 2023
Cancer: evolutionary, genetic and epigenetic aspects.
1N. N. Blokhin Russian Cancer Research Center, Kashirskoye sh. 24, Moscow, 115478 Russia.
Clinical Epigenetics
|June 19, 2012
Summary
Cancer may be a programmed organism death, not a design flaw. This evolutionary process potentially serves species survival by mediating negative selection and genetic adaptation, offering new therapeutic insights.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Cancer Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Two paradigms exist regarding cancer's nature: a byproduct of multicellular organism limitations or a mechanism for species preservation.
- The latter view suggests cancer plays a role in negative selection and evolutionary adjustment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review recent data on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of cell transformation.
- To support the view that carcinogenesis is an evolutionary conserved phenomenon—a programmed death of an organism.
- To explore the potential altruistic function of cancer in preserving species integrity.
Main Methods:
- Review of recent scientific literature on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of cell transformation.
- Analysis of data supporting cancer as an evolutionary conserved phenomenon.
- Exploration of the proposed altruistic function of cancer.
Main Results:
- Recent data on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of cell transformation support cancer as a programmed organism death.
- Carcinogenesis is presented as an evolutionarily conserved phenomenon.
- Cancer's function is hypothesized to be altruistic, mediating negative selection to preserve the species gene pool.
Conclusions:
- Cancer may serve an important, altruistic function for species preservation and evolutionary adjustment.
- Understanding the specific killer mechanisms of cancer could lead to novel therapeutic strategies.
- The review supports the paradigm that cancer is a programmed death, essential for species evolution.
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