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IJE Advance Access originally published online on September 20, 2006
International Journal of Epidemiology 2006 35(5):1163-1165; doi:10.1093/ije/dyl188
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© The Author 2006; all rights reserved.

Commentary

Commentary: Induction and selection of variations during cancer development

Eva Jablonka

The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel

E-mail: jablonka@post.tau.ac.il

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In their paper, Vineis and Berwick1 (V&B) suggest a selectionist interpretation of the epidemiological patterns and dynamics of cancer. The incidence of different types of cancer is highly variable around the world and is associated with the specific environmental conditions in different geographic/social regions/conditions rather than with genetic differences between populations. V&B suggest that carcinogenesis-promoting environments (e.g. certain diets, disease treatments, air pollution) may not only induce new mutations that eventually lead to cancer but also create internal cellular environments that lead to the somatic selection of pre-existing genetic variants that were neutral in non-carcinogenic conditions. The existence of such selection is suggested by the rapid change in risk for specific types of cancer when people migrate from high-risk to low-risk areas and vice versa: the risk for migrants comes to match that of the local population. If migrants are exposed to the risk factors as embryos or young children, . . . [Full Text of this Article]


   Induced epigenetic variations and cancer
 

   Genetic assimilation in somatic cells during cancer development
 

   The reorganization of the epigenome under (carcinogenic) stress
 

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