Introducere. Problema originii cancerului pare a fi transformarea malignă a primei celule, ipoteză emisă şi susţinută de-a lungul timpului de: (1) teoria mutaţiei genetice; (2) teoria diferenţierii aberante; (3) teoria virotică; (4) teoria selecţiei celulelor. Scopul lucrării. A urmări evoluţia actuală a cancerogenezei prin prisma a 3 perspective: diagnostic, tratament şi factori de prognostic. Material şi metode. Pentru realizarea obiectivelor trasate, s-a utilizat metoda scentimetrică bazată pe review-ul literaturii: „Bakwill, F. (2004) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 4”; „Baylin, S.B., and Ohm, J.E., (2006) Nat. Reav. Cancer, 6”; „Dranoff, G. (2004) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 4”; „Greaves, M. (2007) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 7”; „Tisdale, M.J. (2002) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 2”. Rezultate. Conform metodei scentimetrice cancerogeneza este propulsată de 2 forţe aparent incompatibile: mutageneza – proces haotic şi epigeneza – proces înalt ordonat. Concluzii. (1) Cancerogeneza umană este un proces multistadial atât la nivel fenotipic, cât şi genotipic, care reflectă acumularea unui număr de modificări genetice ce conduc la transformarea progresivă a celulei normale spre o celulă malignă. (2) Progresia de la un ţesut normal spre un cancer invaziv are loc în decurs de 5-20 ani şi este influenţată atât de factori de mediu, cât şi de factori genetici (ereditari sau nu), metabolici, hormonali sau imunologici.

Introduction. The problem of the origin of cancer seems to be the malignant transformation of the first cell, a hypothesis issued and sustained over time by: (1) the genetic mutation theory; (2) the aberrant differentiation theory; (3) the viral theory; (4) the cell selection theory. Objective of the study. To follow the current development in cancerogenesis through the three perspectives: diagnosis, treatment and prognostic factors. Material and methods. To achieve the set objectives, was used the "scentimetric" method based on literature review "Bakwill, F. (2004) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 4"; "Baylin, S.B., and Ohm, J.E., (2006) Nat. Reav. Cancer, 6."; "Dranoff, G. (2004) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 4"; "Greaves, M. (2007) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 7"; "Tisdale, M.J. (2002) Nat. Rev. Cancer, 2". Results. According to the scentimetric method it is denote that carcinogenesis is propelled by two forces apparently incompatible: mutagenesis – a chaotic process and epigenesis – a highly organized process. Conclusions. (1) Human cancerogenesis is a multistage process both at the phenotypic as well as at the genotypic level, reflecting the accumulation of a number of genetic alterations that lead to progressive transformation of the normal cell into a malignant cell. (2) The progression from a normal tissue to an invasive cancer occurs within 5-20 years and it is influenced both by environmental factors as well as by genetic (hereditary or not), metabolic, hormonal or immunological factors.