All cancer is not caused by DNA

Glad to debate. Pro will have to prove his claim that "The genetic theory fails to adequately explain all of these common traits, some it does dubiously and some it can't explain at all." For every characteristic Pro has cited, Pro has only claimed, and not proven, that these characteristics disprove the notion that cancer is caused by genetic factors. I request that Pro select a few hallmark traits of cancer and show that DNA expression inadequately explain these traits. ----- I now give a general case against Pro's claim: The entirety of human cell, from its physical characteristics to its functions, are determined by its genes. This includes determining when and how a cell replicates. The characteristics of cancer cells also have a genetic origin, and only arise when there are mutations in the DNA[0]. These tenets are widely accepted in biology. Lastly, I will explain the cause of 7 of the 8 hallmark characteristics of cancer, and show that this explanation does not refute the belief that cancer has a genetic cause. For reference, these characteristics are: - Self-sufficiency in growth signals (stimulation of their own growth) - Insensitivity to anti-growth signals (resistance to inhibitory signals) - Evading apoptosis (they resist programmed cell death) - Limitless replicative potential (they can multiply indefinately) - Sustained angiogenesis (grow new blood vessels) - Tissue invasion and metastasis (spread to distant sites) - Have abnormal metabolic pathways (mitochondrial dysfunction) - Evade the immune system This explanation will not address mitochondrial dysfunction. First, a note on terminology. I use cancer cells to refer to cells that display cancerous traits (i.e. cells that don't stop growing or dividing), and I will use the term "clinical cancer" to describe cases where the a patient has been diagnosed with cancer. This is a vital distinction. A patient can have cancerous cells but not clinical cancer, since clinical can only occurs when cancer cells form tumors that are large enough to be noticeable. My argument will show why this is an important distinction. Pro claims the first list he gives are "hallmarks [that] are shared between all cancers." This is perfectly true, but here 'cancer' refers to the all cases of clinical cancer, not all cancer cells. Cancer cells develop in humans on a regular basis, but they are removed by the immune system, or by cell apoptosis [1]. For instance, the study I cited shows that cancerous B cells are formed in our body every day. The flaw in Pro's argument is that these hallmarks do not apply to all cancer cells, only to the cancer cells that develop into clinical cancer. Specifically, any cancerous cell that does not possess the hallmark characteristics will not progress to clinical cancer. For example, a cancerous cell that lacks "Self-sufficiency in growth signals," "Insensitivity to anti-growth signals," or "Limitless replicative potential" will not be able to grow itself into clinical cancer, and cancerous cells that cannot "evade the immune system" or "evade apoptosis" will die. Additionally, any growing tumor that was not possess "Sustained angiogenesis" will die. Cancer cells require greater blood supply than normal cells, and, furthermore, as the cancer cells grow, they will require more blood to sustain itself[2]. The last trait was "Tissue invasion and metastasis." Tissue invasion is trivial. Clearly a tumor must invade the tissue as it grows, since it 1) originated in the tissue, and 2) requires the space. I will not address metastasis, since this is an issue of definition. Tumors that have all the characteristics of clinical cancer, but do not metastasize, as simply called benign tumors. In other words, the hallmarks of cancer are the result of natural selection. Most cancerous cells do not have all of these hallmark characteristics, and generally, it is only the cells that are able to reach clinical cancer that do. I challenge Pro to show how this explanation refutes the notion of genetics causing cancer. After all, this does not change that the cancerous cells originally arose due to genetic mutations, and that genetic mutations are what give clinical cancer cells their hallmark traits. [0]http://www.cancer.org... [1]http://guardianlv.com... [2]http://www.cancerresearchuk.org...