Transformation injury and the unicellular phenotype of malignant cells

Abstract

In 1984, Philippe Shubik wrote in an editorial in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute [1] that:

‘In terms of general biology, the multicellular organisms have evolved a complex series of defensive responses to extracellular injury involving various inflammatory reactions and their systemic concomitants. Needless to say, these reactions are by no means always successful from the standpoint of the host and indeed may well be the immediate cause of the obvious ill effects noted.

The unicellular organisms, in contrast, react to injury by dividing and moving.

In the search for the features that may link chemical, physical, and viral carcinogens apart from their ability to induce neoplasia, only one characteristic in common is obvious, namely, their ability to produce intracellular change or injury while leaving the cell viable. Perhaps the initial and fundamental characteristic of neoplasia is a reversion of the cell to unicellular behavior. Division and invasiveness are the characteristics of the neoplastic cell, and increased motility certainly seems to be the most likely mechanism for invasion’.

Dr. Shubik presented these views as a basis for ‘further discussion’ regarding the nature of the neoplastic response. We hope that this presentation will augment Shubik's plea by reviewing his idea in the context of our current knowledge of tumor development. In addition, we will attempt to integrate the concept of the unicellular behavior of tumor cells with Foulds' [2] and subsequently Nowell's [3] insightful hypothesis concerning tumor progression.