Edited by
ANTONIO GIORDANO
ALESSANDRO BOVICELLI
ROBERT J. KURMAN

2007

The study of molecular oncology has unequivocally demonstrated that tumors arise because cells accumulate a series of genetic alterations that impedes the correct transfer of the information necessary for carrying out the processes of replication, differentiation, and cell death. Generally, in order for tumors to arise, it is necessary that cells undergo multiple genetic alterations, and epidemiological studies suggest that numerous decades are necessary for a cell to accumulate all the mutations necessary for the development of the neoplasia.