What causes cancer - "bad luck" or extrinsic factors?
![What causes cancer - "bad luck" or extrinsic factors? What causes cancer - "bad luck" or extrinsic factors?](https://cdn.editage.com/insights/editagecom/production/styles/detail_page_image/public/What%20causes%20cancer%20-%20bad%20luck%20or%20extrinsic%20factors%20%28Resized%29.jpg?itok=yTo7XLBj)
Earlier this year, a team of researchers at John Hopkins University published a paper which suggested that random mutations in DNA had a significant role to play in cancer development. These findings were popularly interpreted to mean that “bad luck,” more than any other causative factor, leads to cancer. This has sparked a debate among the experts in the field. Now, Yusuf Hannun of Stony Brook University in New York and his team has published a study that attempts to refute the claim that cancer is a result of random cell division. According to this study, which involved computer modeling, population data and genetic approaches, only 10-30% of cancer cases are a result of random mutations. The major cancer-causing reasons are extrinsic, such as toxic chemicals, radiation, and other lifestyle-related factors. Hannun, however, agrees that “There is still an element of luck,” when it comes to cancer as both intrinsic and extrinsic factors play a combined role.
Read more in The Scientist.
Published on: Dec 22, 2015
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