The Universality of Cancer

TL;DR

This paper proposes a universal stochastic model for cancer development, revealing common underlying dynamics across different cancer types and suggesting potential targets for early detection and prevention.

Contribution

It introduces a simple universal stochastic process model for all cancers, unifying diverse cancer behaviors under a single mathematical framework.

Findings

Hazard rates follow a universal stochastic process

A critical radius distinguishes normal from tumorigenic genomes

Universal parameters relate to age and cellular senescence

Abstract

Cancer has been characterized as a constellation of hundreds of diseases differing in underlying mutations and depending on cellular environments. Carcinogenesis as a stochastic physical process has been studied for over sixty years, but there is no accepted standard model. We show that the hazard rates of all cancers are characterized by a simple dynamic stochastic process on a half-line, with a universal linear restoring force balancing a universal simple Brownian motion starting from a universal initial distribution. Only a critical radius defining the transition from normal to tumorigenic genomes distinguishes between different cancer types when time is measured in cell--cycle units. Reparametrizing to chronological time units introduces two additional parameters: the onset of cellular senescence with age and the time interval over which this cessation in replication takes place. This universality implies that there may exist a finite separation between normal cells and tumorigenic cells in all tissue types that may be a viable target for both early detection and preventive therapy.