Why do you think cancer occurs more often in some organs than others? Discuss the potential environmental, hormonal, nutritional, and genetic factors that could underlie this preference

Why cancer occurs more often in some organs?
WHY CANCER OCCURS MORE OFTEN IN SOME ORGANS THAN THE OTHERS?
The incidence of cancer varies significantly in different organs of human body. It is less frequent in liver and small intestine, negligible in heart, generally occurs in kidney and pancreas, and mostly occurs in lungs, prostate and
east. There are many genetic, environmental, hormonal and nutritional factors responsible for the onset of this disease.
1. Genetic Factors
Cancer is caused by the uncontrolled division of cells and begins with mutations in the DNA. Dividing cells pass through a number of mutations before turning malignant. The cells propagate this mutation to the daughter cells by dividing and replicating. For example, Most of the popular cancers are caused in body parts like
east, skin, lungs, colon, and pancreas. These organs mostly keep on replacing their cells and are mostly exposed to factors which induce mutation. For example, skin always keeps on making new cells and shedding off the older ones. Colon cells at the linings also keep on discarded off continuously and substituted by newer cells. Breast cells are mostly influenced by the hormones and keep on changing their size and shape due to lactation (Scientific American, 2018). Breast cells are recorded to have the highest possibility of getting cancer in the human body (67.2%) followed by prostate (59%) and lungs (57.3%) (Anon,2018).
Due to these factors, these organs have more chances of getting mutation and passing it on to their daughter cells through cell division. Organs like the heart just keep on pumping blood and don’t involve in replication to make new heart cells until there is some accidental injury. The organs which have quite minimal chances of cell division have fewer possibilities of mutation to take place and to propagate to their daughter cells. As heart cells don’t replicate generally, they don’t get cancer most often (Scientific American, 2018).
Source: (Anon, 2018)
According to findings of Thomas et al.(2016), the organs which are larger in size or found in pairs (like kidneys) and which are less important for survival, are more susceptible to cancer. Through natural selection, the organs which are more important for reproduction and long life have achieved sufficient protection against cancer. Also, the smaller organs where a lesser number of cells are involved actively in ca
ying out relevant body metabolism have lower chances of getting malignant. Large size or paired organs offer a backup to the operations if some part of the organ starts malfunctioning. Large or paired organs may...