ArticleEvolutionary applications2015
Evolutionary perspective of cancer: myth, metaphors, and reality.
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 17 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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- The complex effects of modern oncogenic environments on the fitness, evolution and conservation of wildlife species.Evolutionary applications · 2024Article
- A new perspective on tumor progression: Evolution via selection for function.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2024Article
- The paradox of cooperation among selfish cancer cells.Evolutionary applications · 2023Review
- Is ThereCancers · 2021Article
- Does Cancer Biology Rely on Parrondo's Principles?Cancers · 2021Review
- Do malignant cells sleep at night?Genome biology · 2020Review
- Cancer cell lines show high heritability for motility but not generation time.Royal Society open science · 2020Article
- Metastasis and the evolution of dispersal.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Review
- Short- and long-term evolution in our arms race with cancer: Why the war on cancer is winnable.Evolutionary applications · 2018Article
- Ancient oncogenesis, infection and human evolution.Evolutionary applications · 2017Review
- Stochastic model of contact inhibition and the proliferation of melanoma in situ.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Changes in diet associated with cancer: An evolutionary perspective.Evolutionary applications · 2017Article
- Revisiting Seed and Soil: Examining the Primary Tumor and Cancer Cell Foraging in Metastasis.Molecular cancer research : MCR · 2017Review
- Natural Selection in Cancer Biology: From Molecular Snowflakes to Trait Hallmarks.Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine · 2017Review
- Domesticating Cancer: An Evolutionary Strategy in the War on Cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The evolutionary perspective of cancer (which origins and dynamics result from evolutionary processes) has gained significant international recognition over the past decade and generated a wave of enthusiasm among researchers. In this context, several authors proposed that insights into evolutionary and adaptation dynamics of cancers can be gained by studying the evolutionary strategies of organisms. Although this reasoning is fundamentally correct, in our opinion, it contains a potential risk of excessive adaptationism, potentially leading to the suggestion of complex adaptations that are unlikely to evolve among cancerous cells. For example, the ability of recognizing related conspecifics and adjusting accordingly behaviors as in certain free-living species appears unlikely in cancer. Indeed, despite their rapid evolutionary rate, malignant cells are under selective pressures for their altered lifestyle for only few decades. In addition, even though cancer cells can theoretically display highly sophisticated adaptive responses, it would be crucial to determine the frequency of their occurrence in patients with cancer, before therapeutic applications can be considered. Scientists who try to explain oncogenesis will need in the future to critically evaluate the metaphorical comparison of selective processes affecting cancerous cells with those affecting organisms. This approach seems essential for the applications of evolutionary biology to understand the origin of cancers, with prophylactic and therapeutic applications.
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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.