Rare Cancer Seen In 41 Homosexuals (1981)

It is funny that after my two sentence post I am accused of being PC (whatever that even means these days) and wanting to deny that some risky behavior and drugs could lead to problems and that I think all anti-war people were angels.

In Forest Gump everyone who is anti-Vietnam war is presented as bad and the woman who choose not to stay in her home town and make house and goes to protests get aids. It does seem like a message.

Some pointed out LT Dan does get his legs blown off. True but it is from no fault of his own, its a random event not him being punished. His gets on prostitutes (who of course are shown an horrible people) drinks a ton, but yet in the end, his life turns out good and he marries an Asian women (you know 'cause he was fighting against them, so this some how is fitting). No punishment for his reckless behavior unlike that slut Jenny.

There are many genetic determinants of whether you will develop a cancer, or a particular type of cancer. People with FAP, or HNPCC, or other proto-oncogene mutations such as BRCA2 will have a very high probability of developing a specific cancer in their lifetime.

But the mutation that leads to cancer is a spontaneous event, that is allowed to occur due to a failure of cellular regulation.

There are many viral causes of cancer, as OP mentions HPV for cervical and penile cancer. Other strains of HPV are linked to SCc (a form of skin cancer) and throat cancer. Hepatitis C will cause liver failure and Hepatocellulr carcinoma in approx 20% of infected patients. Infection with H. Pylori can predispose to gastric carcinoma.

Additionally exposure to various 'environments' can lead to cancer - if you have GORD you can develop Barett's Oesophsgus due to the gastric acid irritating lower oesophageal mucosa, which can predispose to oesophageal cancer. if you are an alcoholic you can develop cirrhosis and later Hepatocellular carcinoma due to prolonged inflammation in the liver. If you are pale skinned and live in a sunny climate you are at higher risk for melanoma and if you eat a poor diet you have an increased risk of colon cancer. Smoking and exposure to smoke can give you lung, oropharynx, stomach and bladder cancer.

As of yet we have no idea what, of any, are associations for many of the Brain, bone or Kidney cancers (excluding some toxins for kidney cancer).

Possibly there is no cause.

But in all of these cases, the mutation still arises 'spontaneously'. That is, we all have a probability of developing a mutation that can cause cancer every time a cell divides in our body. In people with Li-Fraumeni syndrome, who have a mutation of p53, almost everyone will develop cancer by the time they are in their 40s. So we know the rate of gene knockout is quite high over our lives, and if it wasn't for immunosurvielance, we would likely fall prey to cancer much faster than we do anyway..

All having a risk factor or infection does is increase the probability that a cell will 'spontaneously' develop a mutation that will make it cancerous, and having more of these mutated cells arising increases the chance that one will evade immunosurviellance and continue to grow and expand.

Bottom line: as a doctor I see all cancers as spontaneous. You could say that x causes y, and in many cases there is a strong association, but in no case is that association as strong as, say, life leading to death, for which there is a correlation coefficient approaching 1.