Is cancer a genetic program with an unknown function?
Cancer is a tissue that requires a genetic program, possibly involving hundreds of genes, as indicated by studies of differential gene expression performed with microarrays in various types of cancer. Cancer is thus a biological process of considerable precision as described by Schrödinger's equation, and it is not simply the random expression of hundreds of genes, but rather a program that gives neoplastic tissue characteristics that are independent of the originating tissue: invasion capacity and destruction of neighbouring tissues, metastasis, and capacity to progressively disengage from the genetic program of the original tissue. This program is common to all types of cancer, and does not appear to be related to the genetic program of any known differentiated tissue. In other words, cancer's genetic program appears to be universal in all tissues, since cancer behaves similarly in all tissues; though depending on the tissue in which it originates it will show certain specific characteristics, reflecting the extent to which the neoplastic cells are able to escape from the characteristics of the original tissue.
Garcia-Garcia
Abel
A
Facultad de Medicina y Odontologia, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain. abel.garcia@usc.es
D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology