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A Developmental Hypothesis for Childhood Cancer Scotting Perilongo & Walker Nature Reviews Cancer (2005) 5; 481-488

Children’s Tumours • Differ in their frequency and tissues of origin, • numbers and types of genetic mutations, • sensitivity to chemotherapy •

arise within growing and developing organs, at a time when the tissue microenvironment promotes rapid growth development. The majority are sporadic. Although the more you look, the more predisposing mutations you find Normal developing tissues • have biological characteristics that sustain growth and development: ie. sustained cell division, migration and resistance to cell death • Tissue growth rates decelerate after birth through to end of adolescence.