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Computational biology of cancer. Lecture notes and mathematical modeling. (English) Zbl 1126.92029

River Edge, NJ: World Scientific (ISBN 981-256-027-0/hbk). xiv, 250 p. (2005).
The book presents a collection of mathematical models describing the process of tumor formation, tumor growth and eventually tumor therapy. Clonal expansion of tumor precursor cells plays a minor role in the models presented in the book although it is widely accepted that it plays a crucial role in carcinogenesis.
Chapter 1 discusses several aspects of cancer biology to give the biological background for the mathematical modelling. The authors basically advocate the theory that cancer is a disease of DNA and therefore is the product of accumulation of mutations. However, they also acknowledge the role of angiogenesis in the process of tumor growth. Chapter 2 lays the mathematical foundations for the model-based description of the process of tumorigenesis and cancer growth. Chapter 3 focuses on the mathematical description of one- and two-hit stochastic models and Chapter 4 applies these models to the case of colorectal cancer formation. In Chapter 5 the case of colorectal cancer formation is further detailed by introducing the concept of stem cells. Especially in the colon, the role of stem cells has been thoroughly investigated, as they play a key role in colon crypts which make up the epithelial lining of the colon. Chapter 6 is devoted to the concept of chromosomal instability in the context of the inactivation of tumor suppressor genes and presents a mathematical model for chromosomal instability. Chapter 7 presents a mathematical model to investigate whether and how DNA damage can influence the growth process of stable and unstable cells. In Chapter 8 a connection is made between checkpoint competence-mediated by, e.g., ageing and the development of cancer. Chapters 9 and 10 are devoted to models for angiogenesis (inhibition) and neovascularisation. In Chapter 11 the interplay of cancer and immune response is modelled. The final chapter 12 addresses the issue of cancer treatment, specifically of the use of viruses for anti-tumor treatment.
A number of books has already been published on the mathematical theory of carcinogenesis. This book adds aspects not covered by other books and, therefore, represents a valuable addition to the literature about mathematical models in cancer biology. On the contrary, the book does not cover the vast area of applications of stochastic models to data. A list of abbreviations would have been helpful.

MSC:

92C50 Medical applications (general)
92-02 Research exposition (monographs, survey articles) pertaining to biology
60J85 Applications of branching processes
92-08 Computational methods for problems pertaining to biology
93A30 Mathematical modelling of systems (MSC2010)
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