Koufaris Costas, Nicolaidou Vicky
Cyprus Cancer Research Institute, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Department of Life Sciences, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Bioessays. 2025 Aug;47(8):e70024. doi: 10.1002/bies.70024. Epub 2025 Jun 4.
The incidence of multiple cancer types is increasing in younger generations, with the underlying causes being debated. Here, we propose that environmentally-driven organ enlargement is a novel mechanism contributing to the observed increase in intergenerational cancer risk. All other things being equal, cancer risk will be higher in larger organs composed of more constituent cells, due to the lifetime accumulation of stochastic genomic replication errors. Importantly, the size of certain organs is affected by factors such as diet and lifestyle. Could distinct environmental conditions between generations, therefore, drive organ enlargement, and as a secondary effect, increase cancer risk? Average height and weight-which correlate to the size of internal organs-have clearly been increasing in more recent generations. Recent studies have also found that socio-economic factors are associated with increased brain volume. Research to examine the validity and applicability of the proposed hypothesis could be highly important for public health policy.
多种癌症类型在年轻一代中的发病率正在上升，其潜在原因仍在争论之中。在此，我们提出环境驱动的器官增大是导致代际癌症风险增加的一种新机制。在其他条件相同的情况下，由于随机基因组复制错误在一生中的积累，由更多组成细胞构成的较大器官患癌风险会更高。重要的是，某些器官的大小受饮食和生活方式等因素影响。那么，代际间不同的环境条件会驱动器官增大，并作为次要影响增加癌症风险吗？平均身高和体重与内部器官大小相关，最近几代人的平均身高和体重显然一直在增加。最近的研究还发现社会经济因素与脑容量增加有关。检验所提出假设的有效性和适用性的研究对公共卫生政策可能非常重要。
