Scientists broach new historical reason for cancer

Cancer is down to a default cellular “safe mode”, according to physicists, who have looked into the history of the condition in a bid to reduce death rates, which have stayed largely at the same level over the past 60 years. 

Paul Davies, principal investigator at Arizona State University’s Center for Convergence of Physical Sciences and Cancer Biology, has been investigating why cancer exists in the first place as well as its role in the story of life on Earth.

In this month’s issue of Physics World, the scientist explained his new theory, which is that cancer is a throwback to an ancient genetic “sub-routine” in which the mechanisms that usually instruct cells when to multiply and die malfunction.  
 
This forces the cells to revert back to a default option that was programmed into their ancestors a long time ago.  
 
 He explained: "To use a computer analogy, cancer is like Windows defaulting to 'safe mode' after suffering an insult of some sort.”

As a result of this malfunction, the start of a cascade of events identified as cancer begin. He describes this as a runaway proliferation of cells that form a tumour, which eventually becomes mobile itself, spreading to other parts of the body; invading and colonising. 

This compares to the traditional theory that cancer results from an accumulation of random genetic mutations, which the cancer starting anew every time it manifests. 

However, according to Davies’ theory, it is caused by a set of genes that have been passed on from very early ancestors. These are “switched on” in the the very early stages of an organism’s life as cells differentiate into specialist forms. 

According to the scientist, the genes that are involved in the early development of the embryo, and that are silenced or switched off, thereafter become inappropriately reactivated in the adult due to some sort of trigger or damage, for example chemicals radiation or inflammation.