Lean, C and Plutynski, A (2016) The Evolution of Failure: Explaining Cancer as an Evolutionary Process. Biology and Philosophy, 31 (1). pp. 39-57.
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Abstract
One of the major developments in cancer research in recent years has been the construction of models that treat cancer as a cellular population subject to natural selection. We expand on this idea, drawing upon multilevel selection theory. Cancer is best understood in our view from a multilevel perspective, as both a by-product of selection at other levels of organization, and as subject to selection (and drift) at several levels of organization. Cancer is a by-product in two senses. First, cancer cells co-opt signaling pathways that are otherwise adaptive at the organismic level. Second, cancer is also a by-product of features distinctive to the metazoan lineage: cellular plasticity and modularity. Applying the multilevel perspective in this way permits one to explain transitions in complexity and individuality in cancer progression. Our argument is a reply to Germain’s (2012) scepticism towards the explanatory relevance of natural selection for cancer. The extent to which cancer fulfills the conditions for being a paradigmatic Darwinian population depends on the scale of analysis, and the details of the purported selective scenario. Taking a multilevel perspective clarifies some of the complexities surrounding how to best understand the relevance of evolutionary thinking in cancer progression.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | |||||||||
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| Keywords: | cancer, evolutionary process, multilevel selection, tumors | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Medicine General Issues > Models and Idealization |
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| Depositing User: | A Plutynski | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 15 Nov 2018 00:21 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2018 00:21 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 15331 | |||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Biology and Philosophy | |||||||||
| Official URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10539... | |||||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Biology > Evolutionary Theory General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Medicine General Issues > Models and Idealization |
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| Date: | 2016 | |||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 39-57 | |||||||||
| Volume: | 31 | |||||||||
| Number: | 1 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/15331 |
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The Evolution of Failure: Explaining Cancer as an Evolutionary Process. (deposited 13 Nov 2018 00:44)
- The Evolution of Failure: Explaining Cancer as an Evolutionary Process. (deposited 15 Nov 2018 00:21) [Currently Displayed]
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