Pathway in Cancer Initiation Driven by Membrane Damage, Calcium Overload, ATP Collapse and Warburg Transition

Current cancer research overwhelmingly focuses on mutation‑driven oncogenesis: inherited mutations, chemical carcinogens, radiation, and genotoxic stress. This paradigm has produced powerful diagnostic tools and targeted therapies, yet it implicitly assumes that cancer begins with DNA damage. Here I propose a complementary and largely neglected pathway: mechanical carcinogenesis, initiated not by genotoxic agents but by nano‑particle–induced membrane rupture, calcium overload, mitochondrial failure, ATP collapse, and forced transition into the Warburg metabolic state.