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the global war against cancer has lasted for more than half a century. however, this old paradigm and related treatment strategies are unable to cope with many complex clinical challenges such as recurrence and metastasis. it is difficult to substantially improve the prognosis of patients, and the social goal of eradicating cancer is even more out of reach. the mainstream paradigm of modern cancer research and practice is still centered on somatic mutations, and the linear reductionist view that "cancer is a genetic disease" has long been deeply rooted. even when it comes to the tumor microenvironment, including tumor-related immunity, it is usually attributed to certain specific genes and mutations as the "source of everything."

in addition, thanks to the rapid progress of genome sequencing technology, our understanding of individual cancer cells has reached an unprecedented depth, but at the same time, "the flowers are gradually becoming dazzling." so at this critical crossroads in the history of cancer, how should we choose?

a landmark oncology monograph "rethinking cancer" translated by luo weiren, a researcher at the second affiliated hospital of southern university of science and technology (shenzhen third people's hospital), was recently released nationwide by tsinghua university press. professor bissell mj, one of the original editors, is an outstanding scientist at lawrence berkeley national laboratory and a member of the american academy of sciences. in 2020, he won the canadian gairdner international award, known as the "little nobel prize", for his "contributions to the study of dynamic reciprocity and extracellular matrix and microenvironment, which revolutionized the field of oncology and tissue homeostasis."

this monograph constructs a new theoretical framework and conceptual module for us to understand and treat cancer in the post-genomic era, and puts forward a "system view of cancer" from a high-level perspective. it presents the four dimensions of cancer one by one and is closely linked: first, this new research framework is deeply explored in the theoretical dimensions of scientific progress, relational ontology and mesoscale structure; then, nonlinearity, post-treatment super-progression and nietzsche effect, cell attractors, network theory and "dark matter" in the genome are reviewed from the system dimension; further, the temporal dimension of cancer progression is analyzed through darwin's theory of evolution, atavism and clinical practice; finally, the dominant role of the (micro)environmental dimension in cancer is covered, including the metabolic plasticity of cancer cells, the impact of cancer disease definition on metastasis, and the interconnection between different environmental niches across organizational levels. these ingenious concepts will undoubtedly trigger transformative innovations in the future, inject vigorous vitality into cancer research and clinical treatment in my country, and ultimately benefit patients.

the main translator of this monograph, dr. luo weiren, is a doctor of oncology. he studied under professor yao kaitai, the founder of nasopharyngeal carcinoma research in my country and an academician of the chinese academy of sciences, and professor bissell mj, an academician of the american academy of sciences. he was a visiting scholar sponsored by the state and had visited lawrence national laboratory, university of miami miller school of medicine, and harvard medical school in the united states. his research direction is cancer (nasopharyngeal carcinoma) ecology. he proposed a new direction for the development of modern pathology, "medical ecological pathology"; he constructed the first systematic theory in the history of nasopharyngeal carcinoma research, "nasopharyngeal carcinoma ecological theory", and "cancer ecological tree"; he advocated that "cancer is an ecological disease, not a genetic disease" (cover article and esi highly cited paper). in addition, he reported the world's first critical covid-19 pathological biopsy, and found for the first time that it had lesions such as pulmonary fibrosis and microthrombosis. the times has invited him to participate in the academic reputation survey of world universities many times. he served as deputy editor-in-chief or editorial board member of 10 sci journals such as j cell mol med, and as a special reviewer for 120 journals such as semin cancer biol. selected for the seventh edition of "the top 2% of global scientists 2024".