Size matters: height, cell number and a person's risk of cancer.

ABSTRACT: The multistage model of carcinogenesis predicts cancer risk will increase with tissue size, since more cells provide more targets for oncogenic somatic mutation. However, this increase is not seen among mammal species of different sizes (Peto's paradox), a paradox argued to be due to larger species evolving added cancer suppression. If this explanation is correct, the cell number effect is still expected within species. Consistent with this, the hazard ratio for overall cancer risk per 10 cm increase in human height (HR10) is about 1.1, indicating a 10% increase in cancer risk per 10 cm; however, an alternative explanation invokes an indirect effect of height, with factors that increase cancer risk independently increasing adult height. The data from four large-scale surveillance projects

SUBMITTER: Nunney L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6234890 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature