Mathematical modeling of carcinogenesis based on chromosome aberration data

Abstract

Objective:The progression of human cancer is characterized by the accumulation of genetic instability. An increasing number of experimental genetic molecular techniques have been used to detect chromosome aberrations. Previous studies on chromosome abnormalities often focused on identifying the frequent loci of chromosome alterations, but rarely addressed the issue of interrelationship of chromosomal abnormalities. In the last few years, several mathematical models have been employed to construct models of carcinogenesis, in an attempt to identify the time order and cause-and-effect relationship of chromosome aberrations. The principles and applications of these models are reviewed and compared in this paper. Mathematical modeling of carcinogenesis can contribute to our understanding of the molecular genetics of tumor development, and identification of cancer related genes, thus leading to improved clinical practice of cancer.