The biopsychosocial model of schizophrenia and cancer: Unraveling the etiopathogenesis of complex diseases

[...]they (schizophrenia and cancer) share several risk factors, such as pollution, smoking (either nicotine or cannabis), migrant status, adverse life events, bullying, physical abuse and child maltreatment, and alcohol consumption. Nongenetic factors, such as infections, childhood maltreatment, cannabis use, alcohol, smoking, and air, water, and soil pollution, can make the genome more “instable,” modifying its structure. [...]the environment would “trigger” complex and specific cellular pathways that, through epigenetic modification, can become transmissible from one generation to another [8]. [...]environmental pollution must be necessarily addressed, as in fact it could represent a real possibility of reducing the onset of cancer in conjunction with enhanced prevention.