ArticleEvolutionary applications2013
Toward a general evolutionary theory of oncogenesis.
Article in Evolutionary applications, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Fluke-borne viruses are a risk factor for diseases caused by carcinogenic trematodes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Leveraging selection for function in tumor evolution: System-level cancer therapies.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2025Article
- Evolutionary View of Liver Pathology.Evolutionary applications · 2024Review
- A phylogenetic review of cancer resistance highlights evolutionary solutions to Peto's Paradox.Genetics and molecular biology · 2022Article
- The evolution of barriers to exploitation: Sometimes the Red Queen can take a break.Evolutionary applications · 2021Review
- The Shared Use of Extended Phenotypes Increases the Fitness of Simulated Populations.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
- The special issue on cancer and evolution: Lessons learned.Evolutionary applications · 2020Article
- DNA viruses and cancer: insights from evolutionary biology.Virusdisease · 2020Review
- Parasite-microbe-host interactions and cancer risk.PLoS pathogens · 2019Article
- Differences in mutational processes and intra-tumour heterogeneity between organs: The local selective filter hypothesis.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2019Review
- The Promising Connection Between Data Science and Evolutionary Theory in Oncology.Frontiers in oncology · 2019Article
- Short- and long-term evolution in our arms race with cancer: Why the war on cancer is winnable.Evolutionary applications · 2018Article
- Genetic diversity, inbreeding and cancer.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Corepressor metastasis-associated protein 3 modulates epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and metastasis.Chinese journal of cancer · 2017Review
- Revisiting the hallmarks of cancer.American journal of cancer research · 2017Review
- Infection and cancer in multicellular organisms.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Review
- Maternal-fetal conflict, genomic imprinting and mammalian vulnerabilities to cancer.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Review
- Cancer: an emergent property of disturbed resource-rich environments? Ecology meets personalized medicine.Evolutionary applications · 2015Review
- Evolutionary perspective of cancer: myth, metaphors, and reality.Evolutionary applications · 2015Article
- Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology.Evolutionary applications · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We propose an evolutionary framework, the barrier theory of cancer, which is based on the distinction between barriers to oncogenesis and restraints. Barriers are defined as mechanisms that prevent oncogenesis. Restraints, which are more numerous, inhibit but do not prevent oncogenesis. Processes that compromise barriers are essential causes of cancer; those that interfere with restraints are exacerbating causes. The barrier theory is built upon the three evolutionary processes involved in oncogenesis: natural selection acting on multicellular organisms to mold barriers and restraints, natural selection acting on infectious organisms to abrogate these protective mechanisms, and oncogenic selection which is responsible for the evolution of normal cells into cancerous cells. The barrier theory is presented as a first step toward the development of a general evolutionary theory of cancer. Its attributes and implications for intervention are compared with those of other major conceptual frameworks for understanding cancer: the clonal diversification model, the stem cell theory and the hallmarks of cancer. The barrier theory emphasizes the practical value of distinguishing between essential and exacerbating causes. It also stresses the importance of determining the scope of infectious causation of cancer, because individual pathogens can be responsible for multiple essential causes in infected cells.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.