Question

What describes Darwinian selection in malignancies and tumor progression?

A) Darwinian selection refers to cancer cells competing for survival, leading to tumor progression.
B) Darwinian selection emphasizes the cooperation of cancer cells to avoid immune response, causing tumor progression.
C) Darwinian selection describes how cancer cells favor differentiation, accelerating tumor progression.
D) Darwinian selection illustrates the programmed cell death in cancer cells, slowing tumor progression.

Answer 1

Darwinian selection in cancer describes the competition among cancer cells for survival, akin to natural selection, leading to tumor progression.

Step-by-step explanation:

Darwinian selection in malignancies and tumor progression describes the situation where cancer cells are competing for survival, resulting in tumor progression. The concept of Darwinian selection in cancer is akin to natural selection in biological evolution, where cells with advantageous mutations survive and proliferate, while others die out. This competitive environment within a tumor can lead to the evolution of more aggressive cancer cell populations.

Tumor progression is driven by the accumulation of DNA mutations that can render cancer cells with survival and growth advantages over their normal counterparts and even over other cancer cells within the same tumor. Over time, these adaptive cancer cells that are better at securing resources and evading the immune system will expand more rapidly. Such an evolutionary process explains the variety and adaptability of cancer cells within tumors, contributing to the difficulty of treating cancer.