The systemic hallmarks of cancer

Cancer is not just a lump of cells that divide, invade, and spread randomly, but rather a multi-layered precisely tuned process that requires the participation of the whole organism. There is an urgent need to zoom-out from the cellular and the local stromal view and broaden our perspective by including the whole organism level. Geographically separated cancer tissues communicate between themselves, forming a system that interacts with the rest of the organism through cancer induced systemic pathogenic networks. In the present paper, I introduce six systemic hallmarks of cancer that emerge as a result of these interactions. I also describe several potential therapeutic approaches that can be developed using the cancer system concept. Overall, I argue that the tumoricentric paradigm should be replaced with a broader approach that brings into focus the "cancerized" organism.