02.01.15
Is cancer really just ‘bad luck’?
New research by scientists at the John Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in the USA has reportedly found that certain cancer types could largely be explained by the ‘bad luck’ factor of random DNA mutations during cell division, rather than environmental or inherited factors.
But is ‘bad luck’ really just the reason? After looking at 31 cancer types, the researchers developed a new statistical model that measures the proportion of cancer incidence.
It found that 22 types could be largely explained by the ‘bad luck’ factor of random DNA mutations, while the other nine were presumably due to a combination of bad luck plus environmental or inherited factors.
Bert Vogelstein, MD, the Clayton Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said: “All cancers are caused by a combination of bad luck, the environment and heredity, and we’ve created a model that may help quantify how much of these three factors contribute to cancer development.
“We found that the types of cancer that had higher risk than predicted by the number of stem cell divisions were precisely the ones you’d expect, including lung cancer, which is linked to smoking; skin cancer, linked to sun exposure; and forms of cancers associated with hereditary syndromes.”
He did, however, state that people can add to their risk of getting cancers by smoking or other poor lifestyle factors. But the best way to eradicate cancers “will be through early detection, when they are still curable by surgery,” said Dr Vogelstein.
Last week, though, Cancer Research UK released research saying that nearly 600,000 cancer cases in the UK could have been avoided in the last five years if people had led healthier lifestyles.
Members of the Cancer Research UK Statistical Information Team estimate, in fact, that more than four in 10 cancers could be prevented by changes to lifestyle. And with health services already overstretched and people living longer, prevention is vital to tackle cancer head on.
Professor Max Parkin, a Cancer Research UK statistician based at Queen Mary University of London, said: “There’s now little doubt that certain lifestyle choices can have a big impact on cancer risk, with research around the world all pointing to the same key risk factors.
“Leading a healthy lifestyle can’t guarantee someone won’t get cancer but we can stack the odds in our favour by taking positive steps now that will help decrease our cancer risk in future.”
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