Do External or Internal Factors Lead to Tumor Development? It Is Still Unknown

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V. N. Manskikh

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, 119991 Moscow, Russia; E-mail: manskikh@mail.ru

Received September 1, 2016; Revision received September 20, 2016

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Arguments supporting the “bad luck” hypothesis presented by C. Tomasetti and B. Vogelstein ((2015) Science, 347, 78-81) and A. V. Lichtenstein ((2017) Biochemistry (Moscow), 82, 75-80) are critically discussed. Those arguments are not sufficient for recognition of the “bad luck” hypothesis and the leading role of internal factors in spontaneous tumor development.

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KEY WORDS: “bad luck” hypothesis, causes of tumor development, external and internal factors of carcinogenesis

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297917010096

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