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Bad luck plays a big role in getting cancer, study says

Family history and environmental factors also play a significant role.

By Thor Benson

BALTIMORE, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- A new study from John Hopkins University claims many common cancers are mostly caused by "bad luck."

"All cancers are caused by a combination of bad luck, the environment and heredity, and we've created a model that may help quantify how much of these three factors contribute to cancer development," said Bert Vogelstein, M.D., the Clayton Professor of Oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Scientists already knew that when cells copy themselves they often make minor errors, but while these errors are often harmless, they can also cause cancer to form, the researchers found. They observed stem cells that take on these errors can turn into many kinds of cells, which make them more likely to become cancer cells. The more mistakes add up, the more likely cancer will occur.

The researchers found two-thirds of "adult cancer incidence across tissues" can be explained by such cell division errors.

"Cancer-free longevity in people exposed to cancer-causing agents, such as tobacco, is often attributed to their 'good genes,' but the truth is that most of them simply had good luck," said Vogelstein.

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The researchers assert that since someone's habits or the genes they were born with can't always predict the likelihood of cancer, early detection methods are the safest way to go.

The study is published in the journal Science.

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