The Role of Heritable Tumors in Evolution of Development: a New Theory of Carcino-evo-devo

The hypothesis of evolution by tumor neofunctionalization (the “main hypothesis”) describes the possible role of hereditary tumors in evolution. The present article examines the relationship of the main hy-pothesis to other biological theories. As shown in this paper, the main hypothesis does not contradict to the existing biological theories, but fills the lacunas between them and explains some unexplained (or not com-pletely understood) questions. Common features of embryonic development and tumorigenesis are described by several recognized theories. Similarities between normal development and tumorigenesis suggest that tumors could participate in the evolution of ontogenesis and in the origin of new cell types, tissues and organs. A wide spectrum of non-trivial explanations and non-trivial predictions in different fields of biology, suggested by the main hypothesis, is an indication of its fundamental nature and the potential to become a new biological theory, a theory of the role of tumors in evolution of development, or carcino-evo-devo.