Summary

In terms of homeostatic regulation, cancer begins with a disruption of homeostasis at the cellular level due to alterations in homeostatic regulation involving DNA, leading to the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells. Proliferating tumor cells progressively disrupt tissue homeostasis. Once the barriers are overcome and tumor cells disseminate throughout the body, systemic homeostasis is eventually disrupted, especially with regard to failure of organs and alteration of the regulation of energy intake and expenditure. The fundamental disruption of systemic homeostasis that leads to the development and progression of tumor cachexia has fatal consequences for the organism. In terms of allostasis, cancer represents a factor whose progression leads to allostatic overload both at the level of the tissue affected by the tumor and at the level of the organism.