FIGURE 1.

The adaptation required to stabilize cancer risk for three types of cancer given a transition from the size and longevity of a mouse to those of a human and a blue whale. Each of the four evolutionary hypotheses is shown, assuming an intermediate level of metabolic rate scaling (=C ^−0.15): (a) genetic suppression, showing the total number of driver mutations required (i.e., the mouse baseline plus the required additions; see Table 2); (b) somatic mutation rate, showing on a log scale the magnitude of the decrease required; (c) immune detection of cancer cells, showing on a log scale the maximum level of cellular escape ((1‐e_c); Equation 5) consistent with control; (d) immune detection of cells with driver mutations, showing on a log scale the maximum level of cellular escape ((1‐e_d); Equation 6) consistent with control. The three types of cancer are colorectal (dotted line), with many stem cells and a high division rate; esophageal (solid line), with few stem cells and intermediate division rate; and hepatocellular (dashed line), with many stem cells and a slow division rate