Submitted by [deleted] t3_1167r4w in askscience
sirtuinpeach t1_j9acwzd wrote
Reply to comment by sirtuinpeach in Can doctors tell when cancer is caused by something specific, such as smoking or chemicals? by [deleted]
I think the tricky nuance with determining what has caused someone’s cancer is that cancer emerges after a few pre-cancerous mutations rather than just the one - kind of like a slippery slope mutation cascade that increases the likelihood of full blown malignant cancer by massive amounts with each mutation. So whilst smoking might cause one of those mutations, it’ll take a few more to become malignant! And then another few more to become metastatic cancer, the biggest killer
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