Prelude and premise to the special issue: disruption of homeostasis-induced signaling and crosstalk in the carcinogenesis paradigm “Epistemology of the origin of cancer”

The vast majority of anticancer strategies are symptomatic but in order to achieve some tangible progress, we need to identify the cause(s) of the majority of cancers. There is a kind of zeitgeist that findings in genetics, namely somatic mutations, are reflexively viewed as being causative for carcinogenesis, although some 80% of all cancers are presently termed “sporadic” (i.e., with no proven cause). The observation that one inch of cancerous liver tissue can have more than 100 000 000 mutations and an identical mutation can result in different phenotypes, depending on the environment surrounding that mutation, makes it very unlikely that mutations by themselves are causative of most cancers. 4open debuts its Special Issue series with papers that provide strong evidence that carcinogenesis consists of a 6-step sequence (1) a pathogenic stimulus followed by (2) chronic inflammation from which develops (3) fibrosis with associated remodeling of the extracellular microenvironment, and from these changes a (4) precancerous niche (PCN), a product of fibrosis with remodeling by persistent inflammation develops which triggers the deployment of (5) a chronic stress escape strategy and when this fails to be resolved it results in (6) the normal cell to cancerous cell transition. This Special Issue contains separate papers discussing undervalued ubiquitous proteins, chronic inflammation, eicosanoids, microbiome and morbid obesity, PCN, cell transition, followed by altered signaling induced by Metformin, NF-κB signaling and crosstalk during carcinogenesis, and a brief synopsis. In essence, the available evidence, both in vitro and in vivo, lends credence to the proposition that the majority of cancers occur from a disruption of homeostasis-induced signaling and crosstalk in the carcinogenesis paradigm “Epistemology of the origin of cancer”.