Could ‘bad luck’ cause cancer?
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore have found out that bad luck may be the primary cause of two-thirds of cancer, and not due to lifestyle habits as commonly believed.
This is because “harmful mutations” occur for no particular reason when stem cells divide in various tissues.
Publishing in the journal Science with his colleague Cristian Tomasetti, oncologist Dr. Bert Vogelstein nailed 22 of 31 cancer types to bad luck.
“When someone gets cancer, immediately people want to know why,” he said.
“They like to believe there’s a reason. And the real reason in many cases is not because you didn’t behave well or were exposed to some bad environmental influence, it’s just because that person was unlucky. It’s losing the lottery,” he added.
