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Cancer cells arise from bacteria
Qing-Lin Dong1, Xiang-Ying Xing1
1Department of Bioengineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin, 300130 China.
Cancer Cell International
|December 20, 2018
Summary
Cancer cells may originate from bacteria, not normal cells. This bacterial origin of cancer cells (BOCC) theory suggests intracellular bacteria form cancer cells by acquiring and hybridizing host DNA, offering new research directions.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Microbiology
- Cancer Research
Background:
- The origin of cancer cells remains a fundamental unresolved problem in cancer research.
- Recent findings suggest primary cancer cells (PCCs) and secondary cancer cells (SCCs) form from senescent cells, not transform from normal cells.
- The cellular mechanism for PCC/SCC formation is currently unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose the bacterial origin of cancer cells (BOCC) theory.
- To explain the cellular mechanism of PCC/SCC formation.
- To provide a new framework for understanding cancer initiation and progression.
Main Methods:
- Observational evidence of nascent PCCs/SCCs resembling small, organelle-less bacteria.
- Comparative analysis of cyanobacterium TDX16's de novo organelle biogenesis and its transition into TDX16-DE.
- Identifying striking similarities between TDX16 development and PCC/SCC formation.
Main Results:
- Nascent primary cancer cells (PCCs) and secondary cancer cells (SCCs) exhibit bacterial-like characteristics (small, organelle-less).
- Cyanobacterium TDX16 demonstrates de novo organelle biogenesis, acquiring host DNA to become a new alga (TDX16-DE).
- PCC/SCC formation processes share significant similarities with TDX16 development.
Conclusions:
- The bacterial origin of cancer cells (BOCC) theory posits that intracellular bacteria form cancer cells by hybridizing acquired host DNA.
- Cancer cells are proposed to be novel single-celled eukaryotes, explaining their protist-like characteristics.
- Genetic instability is a consequence, not a cause, of cancer cell formation; carcinogens induce senescence.
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