# Comment on “Variation in cancer risk among tissues can be explained by the number of stem cell divisions”

## TL;DR

This paper challenges a claim that many cancers are mostly due to random mutations, pointing out an error in the original study's analysis of liver cancer.

## Contribution

The paper highlights an oversight in the original study's calculation by showing that some cancers are preventable through vaccination.

## Key findings

- The original study's analysis of hepatocellular carcinomas missed a major subset of preventable tumors.
- The error stems from using average U.S. cancer incidence rates and ignoring specific risk groups.
- This issue is not limited to liver cancer and affects the broader conclusion about cancer prevention.

## Abstract

Tomasetti and Vogelstein (Science 347, 78–81, 2015) claimed that “primary prevention measures are not likely to be very effective” for many cancers because they arise mostly from random mutations fixed during stem cell division, independently of specific genetic or environmental factors. We demonstrate that their calculation for hepatocellular carcinomas overlooked a major subset of tumors proven to be preventable through vaccination. The problem, which is not limited to hepatocellular carcinoma, arises from the general reliance of their analysis on average USA incidences and the omission of incidences in specific risk groups.