Comment Re:Trade off (Score 1) 106
However, we also don't really know how many mutations are necessary for cancer to arise, and one of the first things to happen may be either immortalization through mechanisms including telomerase activity (or the tumor could arise in stem cells where this activity is already present) or (more often) a mutation that in turns leads to an increased mutation rate! Regardless, it's probably not that many mutations, and don't underestimate just how large a number of cells there are in the body (on the order of 10^13 - 10^14)!