Speaker
Description
The nucleation and growth theory, described by the Avrami equation (also called Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov equation), and usually used to describe crystallization and nucleation processes in condensed matter physics, was applied to cancer physics as Avrami-Dobrzyński Model. This approach assumes the transforming system as a DNA chain including many oncogenic mutations. Finally, the probability function of the cell’s cancer transformation is directly related to the number of oncogenic mutations. This creates a universal sigmoidal probability function of cancer transformation of single cells, as observed in the kinetics of nucleation and growth, a special case of a phase transition process. The proposed model, which represents a different view on the multi-hit carcinogenesis approach, is tested on clinical data concerning gastric cancer, breast cancer and ovary cancer. Additionally, the model was tested on mice, which allows to help in the cancer risk prediction for population. The results also show that cancer transformation follows DNA fractal geometry.
