Fig. 3: The cellular continuum of ontogeny and disease etiology.

Broad categories of events and their quantitative contribution over time from embryonic stem cells to adult stem cells to functional tissue. The homeostasis and integrity of tissues in the body, in large part driven by age-related processes, contributes to disease etiology. Cancer develops when homeostasis is compromised and chaos ensues, leading to processes that resemble the events that allow embryonic stem cells to proliferate, awaiting signaling leading to cellular orchestration and differentiation.