How is cancer an evolutionary disease?

Cancer development within an individual is also an evolutionary process, which in many respects mirrors species evolution. Species evolve by mutation and selection acting on individuals in a population; tumors evolve by mutation and selection acting on cells in a tissue.

Is cancer a heterogeneous?

Cancer is a heterogeneous disease. Practically from the moment pathologists first looked at human cancers under the microscope, they saw that differing histologic appearances could define distinct subtypes of cancers from the same primary site of origin.

What is cancer evolution?

About this Research Topic. Cancer is a group of diseases associated with abnormal cell growth driven by a process of clonal expansion. These process events involving cells progressing from normal to pre-cancerous to cancerous state represent a form of Darwinian evolution.

What causes cancer heterogeneity?

Intertumoural heterogeneity, which refers to heterogeneity between patients harbouring tumours of the same histological type, has long been recognized and is believed to result from patient-specific factors including germline genetic variations, differences in somatic mutation profile, and environmental factors.

What is cancer cell heterogeneity?

Tumour heterogeneity describes the observation that different tumour cells can show distinct morphological and phenotypic profiles, including cellular morphology, gene expression, metabolism, motility, proliferation, and metastatic potential.

Is human a parasite?

Human parasites include various protozoa and worms that may infect humans that cause parasitic diseases….Most common parasites.

Why is cancer more common in the poor and medically underserved?

The higher cancer burden in poor and medically underserved individuals may also reflect different rates of behavioral risk factors for cancer, such as higher rates of tobacco smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, and excessive alcohol intake, and lower rates of breastfeeding.

How many people die from cancer each year?

Cancer is the second leading killer of Americans, and the leading cause of death worldwide. Every year, about 1.5 million new cases are diagnosed in the United States and more than half a million people die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

What are the cancer incidence and mortality disparities in the US?

Some key cancer incidence and mortality disparities in the United States include: Blacks/African Americans have higher death rates than all other racial/ethnic groups for many, although not all, cancer types. Despite having similar rates of breast cancer, Black/African-American women are more likely than White women to die of the disease.

How much has the death rate from cancer increased since 1990?

The red line in the chart shows that the death rate from cancer has increased by 17\% since 1990. This tells us that if the world population had not increased, then instead of the number of cancer deaths increasing by 66\% (as we saw above), they would only have increased by 17\%.