Acute Inflammation and Micrometastasis Proliferation: A Fissure in the Uniformitarian Façade of Cancer

Extract

To the Editor:

The principle ‘Natura non facit saltum’ attributed to Carl Linnaeus in the eighteenth-century had a deep influence in the current perception of natural processes, including some medical issues. In particular, geology, evolution and mass extinctions were once considered the tireless work of slow, gradual and continuous processes. That conception was called uniformitarianism and was defended by Lyell, the eminent nineteenth-century geologist. In contrast, George Cuvier believed that cataclysms and natural disasters disrupted the uniform rhythm of progressive evolution. Likewise, the predominant opinion implied that tumor progression did not make leaps, since cancerous cells proliferated and thrived without rapid skips and jumps. Gompertzian models are somehow a reminiscence of these thoughts. They are based on the idea that tumors always have to grow, since all the malignant cells have homogeneous capacities. One of the problems of these models is the inability to explain late relapses, which have been observed until 30 years after the resection of the primary tumor (1).