Carcinogenesis in "Homo sapiens" as the result of indeterminism in biology
Przybora, L.A.
Patologia Polska 28(2): 153-176
1977
ISSN/ISBN: 0031-3114 PMID: 887288 Document Number: 117853
Biology, which is placed on the crossing of the micro- and macrocosmos, is affected by indeterminism while exploiting the chaos of probability to diversify itself into species to allow for their variation and, owing to individual death, determines them for long intervals through choice and selection. Penetration of the determined macrocosmos by the indetermined microcosmos creates, apart from normal life and death, a 3rd state in which mutated, sublethal life does not participate in the transmission of the essence of life in a permanent manner. Carcinogenesis is a result of fortuity in biology, connected with errors in selection, featuring only sublethal life. Carcinogenesis is a process which begins by an accidental hereditary mutation of a cell or cells of a given tissue, which leads to the formation of a new cellular clone selected by environmental and body conditions to the point where a uniform strain sufficiently resistant to these conditions develops. Selection and consecutive secondary mutations occur throughout the duration but in the latent period, dysplasia, in situ and invasio incipiens are noted. Cancer development is a process of constant consecutive transitions, not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. For this reason kinetic names such as carcinogenesis or sarcogenesis are used, avoiding static terms, like cancer or sarcoma. The course of carcinogenesis is progressive, non-uniform and multiphasic. The phases are the molecular phase, dysplasia, in situ, invasio-incipiens, invasivum phase, dissemination into organ fluids, metastatic phase and heterotransplantation. The more advanced the phase the shorter it lasts. Moments in which phase-to-phase transitions occur are themost lethal and may lead to extinction of the process, stabilization at a given stage or transition to the next stage. Progression is 2-fold, transformative and proliferative. The 2 forms may appear simultaneously, rapidly or slowly, or appear in turns. Four variants are distinguished: rapid, uniform, proliferative and transformative. In the 1st and 2nd variants consecutive phases are indistinguishable in practice. The 3rd variant begins with hyperplasia or a benign tumor and only on such a background do features of malignancy appear. In the 4th variant phases are clear-cut and lengthy, which facilitates detection at an early stage and treatment at the most convenient phase. Despite the fact that carcinogenesis is an accidental phenomenon connected with the very existenceof sublethal life, a number of biological, chemical and physical factors are known. Increasing the probability of drawing the wrong lot can contribute to the occurrence of cancer. No. 1 factor is a tumor-creating factor, i.e., a carcinogen, being only a factor facilitating and increasing the number of changes in cells which form a tumor-creating region (the so-called cocarcinogen). This concerns ionizing radiation and chemical agents as well as viruses. All these widely differing cocarcinogens cause an accumulation of cell mutants among which an omission by selectors will occur more readily and change will be replicated, leading to creation of a new generation of cells, giving a starting point for carcinogenesis.