Stability-variability conflict as a reason for cancer: physical and social aspects.
We present an analysis of cancer based on the synthesis of physical and social models of life as the stability-variability conflict (SVC). We showed that the intensity of the SVC increases with an increase in the rate of evolution or progress of species and populations. The probability of oncogenesis depends on this intensity and on the gray zone in the host's homeostasis. An organism and its cells are two interdependent systems which in extreme situations become antagonistic and competitive. The hierarchy of the biosystems (cell, organism, population) does not resolve the SVC and does not decrease the gray zone of this conflict. Cancer develops mainly due to external effects and results in some internal, including genomic, alterations which result in cell death (apoptosis), or cause cells to begin a new stage in their lives, possibly leading to tumors. In this respect, cancer is a rescuer of the cells, although it brings about the death of the host. An increase in the production of tumor-associated proteins in cancer patients is an example of such changes. Cancer can also be analysed in terms of entropy and information. In the context of the SVC, cancer is irreversible deviations from the "golden mean" solution. The golden mean and cancer deviation are considered universal categories of physical and social reflections of the SVC as the quintessence of life.
Kozlenko
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Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Box 12, 76100 Israel.
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D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*