The importance of external factors -related to the environment- regarding the risk of developing cancer is between 70% and 90%. This is how blunt the new study carried out by researchers from Stony Brook University (USA) and which is collected by the journal Nature is shown . This work thus dismantles the controversial theory published in the journal Science a few months ago that two thirds of tumors were caused by “bad luck .”
Thus, the risk of suffering from cancer is more influenced by extrinsic than intrinsic factors (such as problems in DNA replication): “Its authors stated that cancer is caused only by intrinsic factors, such as cell mutations, and not extrinsic . Our study shows just the opposite : that the majority of cancers are due to external risk factors ”, explains Yusuf Hannun, leader of the study, to Sinc.
Based on cell mutation analysis and epidemiological data, intrinsic factors contribute only 10-30% to the chances of getting cancer. However, external factors, such as exposure to ultraviolet radiation, influence between 70-90% in the risk of suffering from this disease.
The influence of the environment is clearly determining , so the scientists argue that the fight for cancer prevention should be a priority for governments and the population alike. From now on, further research should focus on unraveling which are these environmental factors that increase the chances of suffering from cancer.
“In the future we want to expand the theoretical model of our study to incorporate the effects of extrinsic factors and understand the development of cancer and its risks, as well as create a general model that serves to predict how certain events in an early period can influence cancer. the development of cancer, ”says Hannun.
