Hypothesis|Volume 3, Issue 12|pp 1130—1141

Molecular damage in cancer: an argument for mTOR-driven aging

Mikhail V. Blagosklonny¹

¹Department of Cell Stress Biology, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Elm and Carlton Streets, Buffalo, NY, 14263, USA

Received: December 7, 2011Accepted: December 31, 2011Published: December 31, 2011

Copyright: © 2011 Blagosklonny et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Despite common belief, accumulation of molecular damage does not play a key role in aging. Still, cancer (an age-related disease) is initiated by molecular damage. Cancer and aging share a lot in common including the activation of the TOR pathway. But the role of molecular damage distinguishes cancer and aging. Furthermore, an analysis of the role of both damage and aging in cancer argues against “a decline, caused by accumulation of molecular damage” as a cause of aging. I also discuss how random molecular damage, via rounds of multiplication and selection, brings about non-random hallmarks of cancer.