Slow Proliferation as a Survival Advantage: an Attempt to Resolve a Paradox
✍ Scribed by D. EICHLER
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science
- Year
- 2001
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 167 KB
- Volume
- 210
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0022-5193
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
A model is proposed for immunological high zone-and self-tolerance that is based on the concept of overstimulation of replication: It is demonstrated that if proliferation is hindered by delayed response to nutritional de"ciency, then under competitive conditions slower proliferation can become a survival advantage. This o!ers a resolution of the paradox that selfantigens promote both positive and negative selection in the development of lymphocytes. It also suggests that maintaining nutrition and caloric intake at a minimal level can prolong the survival of cancer patients if the cancer cells replicate more rapidly than healthy ones.