What Causes Cancer?
The prevailing model for cancer development is that mutations in
genes for tumor suppressors and oncogenes lead to cancer. However,
some scientists challenge this view as too simple, arguing that it fails to
explain the genetic diversity among cells within a single tumor and
does not adequately explain many chromosomal aberrations typical of
cancer cells. An alternate model suggests that there are “master
genes” controlling cell division. A mutation in a master gene leads to
abnormal replication of chromosomes, causing whole sections of
chromosomes to be missing or duplicated. This leads to a change in