John Pepper (National Cancer Institute; SFI External Professor)
Abstract. Cancer results from a process of cellular evolution. Key cancer vulnerabilities and defenses arose from the ancient evolutionary transition from single-celled to multicellular organisms. Because cellular evolution leads inexorably to cancer, organismal evolution has organized cell reproduction into patterns that are less subject to cellular evolution. We used an agent-based computational model of evolution inside tissues to evaluate the hypothesis that cell differentiation is crucial to suppressing cellular evolution within the body. The hypothesis was supported. If this most basic safeguard is compromised, all the obstacles to cancer built by organismal evolution are quickly dismantled by cellular evolution within the organism. Other simulations addressed the origins of tissue invasion and metastasis.