1: Med Hypotheses. 1985 Nov;18(3):207-19. |
|
Inflammation initiates cancer by depleting
stem cells.
Zajicek G.
According to the theory presented herewith, neoplasia results solely from stem
cell depletion. Besides serving as tissue progenitors, stem cells are
postulated to secrete a vital substance 'A' necessary for proper tissue
function. Carcinogens interfere with 'A' production mainly by destroying stem
cells and since the latter are not replenished, less 'A' is produced. In order
to repair the deficiency, the organism grows a special organ, the neoplasm,
dedicated to produce a substitute, denominated here as substance 'B'. Since
carcinogens continue depleting stem cells, the neoplasm has to grow more and
more in order to keep up with the demand, until reaching a stage of
decompensation when the harm inflicted by it is greater than its benefit. Any
stem cell depleting substance or process e.g. ablation, chemotherapy and
inflammation, is regarded here as a carcinogen. Even animal tumor viruses are
postulated here to exert their harm mainly by depleting stem cells. Protracted
inflammation e.g. ulcerative colitis or cystic mastopathy, hits stem cells and
is followed therefore by neoplasia. Age specific incidence rates of such
pathologies resemble precursor-successor curves of tracer kinetics. The
precursor inflammation hits young adults, while its successive neoplasia is
more prevalent in older individuals. Although most age specific curves of adult
cancers are unimodal, at least five are bimodal, resembling precursor-successor
curves. These are: Hodgkin's disease, seminoma, nasopharyngeal and
retroperitoneal tumors and cancer of bone and joints. It is suggested here that
these age specific curves are mixtures of two pathologies, an inflammatory,
which is prevalent in young persons, followed by neoplasia.
PMID: 3853080 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]