“ It seems that, in nature, the probabilities of carcinoma induction (onset of cancer, editor's note) in mice and in humans are not very different", despite our life expectancy being 30 times greater and the number of cells in our bodies having increased a thousandfold," he marveled in 1977 Statistician and epidemiologist Richard Peto. Yet, human exposure to cancer should be a million, or even a billion times that of mice, if each cell has the same probability of becoming cancerous over a given period. For the first time, new research, published in the journal Science Advances, shed new light on Peto's Paradox, using the concept of the "hydra effect". What if, rather than being a by-product of evolution that would need to be explained by other factors such as size or longevity, the prevalence of cancer within a species was precisely a tool selected and adjusted by the evolutionary process?
By Camille Gaubert THE Subscribers
In mammals, simply being large or living a long life isn't enough to increase the risk of developing cancer. The key factor is social behavior, a study concludes. The most competitive species suffer the most, while the most cooperative are almost entirely free of it. And among all mammals, humans stand out.
Cancer affects all mammalian populations, but to greatly varying degrees.
Photo by MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRA / SPB / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY VIA AFP
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