Why do healthy people still have cancer?

The scientists concluded that 60% of cancer mutations were due to random DNA replication errors, 29% in the environment and 5% of the genetic mutations.

According to Nature, the latest study from Kimmel Johns Hopkins Cancer Center, lifestyles and genetic diseases does not contribute much to the risk. In fact, two-thirds of the mutations that lead to cancer are caused by DNA (or DNA - genetic material at the molecular level) error . This finding explains why people with healthy lifestyles or even people who don't have cancer are at risk.

66% of cancer mutations are caused by random DNA replication errors.(Photo: Nature).

The results are published in the journal Science in a worldwide anti-cancer investigation. Accordingly, most cases of cancer are caused by random errors in genetic code when cells divide in the intermediate phase G1 (cell growth size). This is simply a lack of luck for those who have it.

In 2015, Dr. Vogelstein and mathematician Cristian Tomasetti of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore analyzed why some types of cancer are more common than others. The answer is that, in different areas of cancer, there will be a different number of stem cells , for example in the brain more than the rectum. So people with brain cancer are more common than rectal cancer.

However, researchers still support cancer prevention recommendations, such as not smoking, sun exposure . These habits can create higher cancer-causing mutations. Epidemiological studies show that about 42% of cancers are preventable. The above result does not conflict with that. Because the study shows mutations that cause cancer, but does not mean that is the only cause.

The researchers also calculated the rate, contribution of the environment, genetic factors and errors of random DNA replication with cancer-causing mutations. Some cases of gene analysis in cancer cells and finding mutations that show specific environmental exposures.

The results show that the percentage varies with each type of cancer. For example, lung cancer, environmental factors accounted for 65%, while mutation errors accounted for only 35%. However, prostate, brain and bone cancer, more than 95% of the cause of the disease is due to random DNA replication errors

In general, when calculating over 32 types of cancer, the scientists showed that about 66% of cancer mutations are due to random DNA replication errors, only 29% due to environmental factors and 5% mutations. genetic.

Two-thirds of the mutations leading to cancer are caused by DNA (or DNA - genetic material at the molecular level.) (Photo: Health).

Dr. Yusuf Hannun, director of Stony Brook Cancer Center in New York, is concerned that the study underestimates the contribution of environmental and genetic factors because they do not know how to fully predict the impact that these factors cause. For example, cigarette smoking poses a risk of lung cancer, but its effects cannot be specifically calculated, along with the effects of air pollution, .

The results of this study will make patients and families less anxious. They understand that cancer does not leave anyone, including the family, no one has cancer or you have a healthy lifestyle.