Emma Hammarlund
Research team manager
Updating the Definition of Cancer
Author
Summary, in English
Most definitions of cancer broadly conform to the current NCI definition: "Cancer is a disease in which some of the body's cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other parts of the body." These definitions tend to describe what cancer "looks like" or "does" but do not describe what cancer "is" or "has become." While reflecting past insights, current definitions have not kept pace with the understanding that the cancer cell is itself transformed and evolving. We propose a revised definition of cancer: Cancer is a disease of uncontrolled proliferation by transformed cells subject to evolution by natural selection. We believe this definition captures the essence of the majority of previous and current definitions. To the simplest definition of cancer as a disease of uncontrolled proliferation of cells, our definition adds in the adjective "transformed" to capture the many tumorigenic processes that cancer cells adopt to metastasize. To the concept of uncontrolled proliferation of transformed cells, our proposed definition then adds "subject to evolution by natural selection." The subject to evolution by natural selection modernizes the definition to include the genetic and epigenetic changes that accumulate within a population of cancer cells that lead to the lethal phenotype. Cancer is a disease of uncontrolled proliferation by transformed cells subject to evolution by natural selection.
Department/s
- Molecular Evolution
- LUCC: Lund University Cancer Centre
- EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health
- StemTherapy: National Initiative on Stem Cells for Regenerative Therapy
Publishing year
2023
Language
English
Pages
1142-1147
Publication/Series
Molecular cancer research : MCR
Volume
21
Issue
11
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
American Association for Cancer Research
Topic
- Cancer and Oncology
Status
Published
Research group
- Molecular Evolution
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1557-3125