Why do you call a tumor a search engine?
Many oncologists believe that a tumor is a caricature of normal development. What does it mean? There can be completely unusual combinations in it. In a teratoma, for example, teeth and hair grow, it is terrible to look at them, these tumors. One gets the impression that the tumor is looking for something, so it’s a search engine. It’s kind of like a “biological Google”.
What is he looking for?
“It goes through different possible paths in the probability space that proteins can form.
– The “opportunity zone” is open for Google. These are different sites on the Internet, digital dictionaries, encyclopedias. And what is the “field of opportunity” for a tumor?
– Karl Popper, the greatest philosopher of the 20th century, developed the concept of the field of possibilities in his book “A World of Propensities”. According to Popper, the universe is an ever-growing field of possibilities where nonzero probabilities occur over time. In my theory of the evolutionary role of tumors (carcino-evo-devo), I introduced the concept of “biological possibilities space” defined by omics technologies based on the achievements of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics. on big data. This is the explanation of the biological possibilities of the tumor.
– After all, the search is done for a reason. What is the purpose of the tumor?
– Increasing the complexity of a multicellular organism. This is a trend, a world law. Large atoms such as uranium arise from simple atoms. Molecules are also getting more complex all the time. There are simple molecules like H2O and there are already macromolecules and they show up in chemical syntheses and then in biological syntheses. And we know that life arose as a result of chemical evolution – this is the modern concept of the origin of life.
“Wait, are you saying that there can be no simplification in evolution?”
– Maybe. And chemical degradation processes are also available. But I’m not concerned with simplification, I’m dealing with complexity.
How does the increase in biological complexity happen?
– After the origin of the genetic code, the increase in biological complexity is determined by the evolution of DNA, that is, the evolution of genomes. It turns out that the coding of new structures can begin even before the structures themselves appear. In other words, information about structures that do not yet exist can be calculated at the DNA level.
This process can be described using the example of how the immunoglobulin locus works in mammals. This is a structure that calculates all possible variants of antibodies against foreign antigens that vertebrates can meet (an antigen is any substance that the body considers foreign or potentially dangerous and that the body usually begins to produce its own antibodies). Immunoglobulins are antibodies, and the immunoglobulin locus is the genes that control antibodies. In fact, this is a “recombinant machine” that can produce up to 10 units.eleven various antibodies. I think this is an example of a biological computer.
– Does the biological computer work specifically on tumors?
Yes, tumors are an “opportunity space” for new gene combinations and tissue variants to emerge.
– Is it possible to answer the question: is this a large “field of possibility”?
– Approximately possible. Let’s count. Almost 10 immunoglobulins found experimentallyfrontand theoretically it could be 10eleven. What do you think, how many morphological features are there in vertebrates? About 500. And how many kinds of cells? A little over 400. If an immunoglobulin locus can calculate the full diversity of antibodies, then the entire vertebrate genome will clearly cope with the task of calculating the full diversity of vertebrate morphological characters.
— How does this happen at the level of an individual human organism?
– Tumors appear in the human body, probably every day, but the immune system does not allow them to develop. Up to 80% of tumors in mammals are benign, and it is often unclear why they occur. My theory answers this question. There is a search for an option within the tumor, and on an evolutionary scale some options turn out to be useful (although tumors are pathological processes for humans in general). Thus, new cell masses are formed, followed by new cell types, new tissues, organs, and more progressive new types of organisms.
How are new cell masses inherited?
– We are talking about hereditary tumors, which, as it turned out, is a significant percentage – much higher compared to classical genetic diseases. I am always asked the question: How is it inherited? I answer: It is inherited in the same way as all previous cell types, and we have more than 400 cells.
Evolutionary new genes do not arise in somatic cells but in germ plasma (these are cells that are not involved in sexual reproduction). Therefore, they are inherited.
– Do I understand correctly that you are showing the example of antibodies that the body has to recalculate every time it encounters new pathogens to prove the existence of a “biological computer”?
– TRUE. And then the following turned out to be interesting. It was important to understand: On what grounds does the biological computer choose new structures to follow the path of increasing complexity? I solved this problem in one of my first theoretical papers, which I published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology in 1979, while I was doing my postdoctoral fellowship in the United States. The answer to this question is: the selection continues over compatible features. Compatibility is calculated by the biological computer. Complexity grows, new genes appear. In order for molecules to become more complex, cells to become more complex, organisms to become more complex, a biological computer works by enumerating new structures (properties) from the field of biological possibilities. There is no other way than to look for signs compatible with the previous ones. This is due to the growth of compatible gene chains, the complexity of ontogenesis, the emergence of new morphological features, etc. leads to Tumors seek such compatibility.
– And if the tumor has signs incompatible with the previous ones?
– This leads to the death of the body.
Is this a malignant tumor?
– Exactly.
– It would seem that organisms, including humans, did not stop in their development, they are always moving forward. What new organ appeared in a human recently?
– In 2015, a new tissue was discovered in a person who managed to overgrow the central canal of the spinal cord. This tissue turned out to be signs of ependymoma.
“Wait, is that a tumor?
– Yes, a tumor of the central nervous system, which develops from the ependymal cells of the ventricles of the brain and the central canal of the spinal cord. It was previously unknown that in humans the spinal canal grows with ependymal tissue.
We are also discovering evolutionarily new genes that arise de novo in humans, and their functions are not yet fully understood. This is one of the main predictions of our theory. And one of the main discoveries is the TSEEN (tumor-specific expressed, evolutionarily new) genes. Why do they appear if the human body has no new tasks?
– And what organs are relatively new in our body?
– This is the placenta, mammary gland, prostate, fatty organ. Note that tumors often occur in the mammary gland, prostate, and obesity in general can be called a tumor-like process. Perhaps these organs are still being refined by evolution. But this is a separate topic of discussion.