[Cellular adaptation and cancerogenesis].

The paper describes the main adaptive mechanisms involved in the carcinogenic process. As a result of the action of carcinogenic agents (physical, chemical, biological), and in relation to the functional status of the affected cells, a number of systems are triggered off: detoxification and conjugation systems, the metabolisation of the said agents, DNA repairing enzymes, increased shock proteins (HSP), the induction of clonal proliferation. All these systems are valuable to the survival of the body and the species and culminate in the apoptosis of damaged cells as the last attempt at adaptation of a social kind for the good of the body.