ArticleEvolutionary applications2015
Cell size and cancer: a new solution to Peto's paradox?
Article in Evolutionary applications, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 42 citations in OpenAlex.
- Divergent evolution of hepatocellular carcinoma genomes in chimpanzees and humans.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2026Article
- Glutamine modulates cellular size by regulating Wee1 expression.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Association of predicted basal metabolic rate and insulin resistance in a Chinese general population.BMC endocrine disorders · 2025Article
- Revealing endogenous conditions for Peto's paradox via an ordinary differential equation model.Journal of mathematical biology · 2024Article
- Mechanical shear flow regulates the malignancy of colorectal cancer cells.The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences · 2024Article
- Genetically predicted thyroid function and risk of colorectal cancer: a bidirectional Mendelian randomization study.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2023Article
- Cell size, body size and Peto's paradox.BMC ecology and evolution · 2022Review
- A novel perspective suggesting high sustained energy expenditure may be net protective against cancer.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2022Article
- A phylogenetic review of cancer resistance highlights evolutionary solutions to Peto's Paradox.Genetics and molecular biology · 2022Article
- Effect of Basal Metabolic Rate on Cancer: A Mendelian Randomization Study.Frontiers in genetics · 2021Article
- What Animal Cancers teach us about Human Biology.Theranostics · 2021Review
- TERT promoter alterations could provide a solution for Peto's paradox in rodents.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Review
- Low basal metabolic rate as a risk factor for development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.BMJ open diabetes research & care · 2020Article
- Functional and structural changes in aorta of mice divergently selected for basal metabolic rate.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2020Article
- A mathematical solution to Peto's paradox using Polya's urn model: implications for the aetiology of cancer in general.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2019Article
- From humans to hydra: patterns of cancer across the tree of life.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2018Review
- Aging, Metabolism, and Cancer Development: from Peto's Paradox to the Warburg Effect.Aging and disease · 2017Review
- Can Peto's paradox be used as the null hypothesis to identify the role of evolution in natural resistance to cancer? A critical review.BMC cancer · 2015Review
- The multiple facets of Peto's paradox: a life-history model for the evolution of cancer suppression.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cancer, one of the leading health concerns for humans, is by no means a human-unique malady. Accumulating evidence shows that cancer kills domestic and wild animals at a similar rate to humans and can even pose a conservation threat to certain species. Assuming that each physiologically active and proliferating cell is at risk of malignant transformation, any evolutionary increase in the number of cells (and thus body mass) will lead to a higher cancer frequency, all else being equal. However, available data fail to support the prediction that bigger animals are affected by cancer more than smaller ones. The unexpected lack of correlation between body size (and life span) and cancer risk across taxa was dubbed Peto's paradox. In this perspective, several plausible explanations of Peto's paradox are presented, with the emphasis on a largely underappreciated relation of cell size to both metabolism and cell division rates across species, which we believe are key factors underlying the paradox. We conclude that larger organisms have bigger and slowly dividing cells with lower energy turnover, all significantly reducing the risk of cancer initiation. Solving Peto's paradox will enhance our understanding the evolution of cancer and may provide new implications for cancer prevention and treatment.
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Registered trials
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.