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Of cancer and cave fish

Abstract

We propose that the drivers of carcinogenesis lie more in the adaptive changes that are enabled by local or systemic alterations of tissue architecture than in the genetic changes observed in cancer cells. A full understanding of cancer biology and therapy through a cataloguing of the cancer genome is unlikely unless it is integrated into an evolutionary and ecological context.

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Acknowledgements

Grant Support: 1U54CA143970-01

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Correspondence to Robert A. Gatenby.

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Gatenby, R., Gillies, R. & Brown, J. Of cancer and cave fish. Nat Rev Cancer 11, 237–238 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3036

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