title: A research note regarding "Variation in cancer risk among tissues can be explained by the number of stem cell divisions".
abstract: Tomasetti and Vogelstein argued that 2/3 of human cancers are due to 'bad luck' and that "primary prevention measures [against cancer] are not likely to be very effective". We demonstrate that their calculations for hepatocellular carcinomas overlooked a major subset of these cancers proven to be preventable through vaccination. The problem, which is not limited to hepatocellular carcinoma, arises from the general reliance of their analysis on average incidences in the United States and the omission of incidences in specific risk groups.
authors.affiliation: IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, B-1070, Belgium.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tarabichi
authors.affiliation: IRIBHM, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, B-1070, Belgium.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Detours
keywords: Cancer incidence; cancer etiology; cancer prevention; cancer risk