The Dualistic Origin of Human Tumors

Publication date: Available online 21 July 2018Source: Seminars in Cancer BiologyAuthor(s): Jinsong LiuAbstractLife starts with a zygote which is formed via fusion of haploid sperm and egg. The formation of blastomere via cleavage division (nuclear division without increase in cell size) is the first step in the embryogenesis after zygote. The blastomeres are responsible to reprogram parental genome to new embryonic genome for generation of pluripotent stem cells which then differentiate via Waddington’s epigenetic landscape to give a birth for a new life. Multiple authors over the past century and a half have proposed that tumor arises from development gone awry along the Waddington’s landscape. The recent discoveries that differentiated somatic cells can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells and somatic cell nuclear transfer can be used to successfully clone animals fundamentally reshaped our understanding of development and tumor origin. Differentiated somatic cells are plastic and can be induced to be dedifferentiated into pluripotent stem cells. Here, I review the evidence that somatic cells may have a previously overlooked endogenous embryonic program that can be activated to dedifferentiate the somatic cells into stem cells of various potencies for tumor initiation. Polyploid giant cancer cells (PGCCs) have long been observed in cancer and were originally thought to be nondividing. Contrary to this belief, the recent findings show that stressed induce...
Source: Seminars in Cancer Biology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: research