Diary secret codes of 200 cancer diseases thanks to mathematics in the UK

In other words, they found the basic law of cancer development.

Cancer is formed when cells in the body function abnormally and constantly divide constantly to form tumors. A common tumor is made up of more cancer cells than the planet's population, cells in different areas of the tumor have different genetic information.

Thus, tumors are an extremely chaotic place of "nobody like anyone" cancer cells . So how do doctors deal with the disease, when gene therapy is used to focus on known genetic code, but there are always new genes of other cells available? appear? The answer is to find a certain order in the chaos. That is also the problem that Dr. Trevor Graham and Dr. Andrea Sottoriva of the UK Cancer Research Center conducted.

A common tumor is made up of more cancer cells than the planet's population.

As soon as the study began, Dr. Graham explored the genetic modification pattern in cancer cells and he demonstrated the expected chaos of cell numbers along with genes. related that he put forward before. He and Dr. Sottovira investigated 904 types of cells in the tumor of 14 different cancers, both of whom were surprised when a large number of such cell types mutated their genetic patterns. there are many similarities. Even these two doctors can describe these models in the form of mathematical formulas.

Each time a cell divides into two new daughter cells, its DNA genetic information is copied into two copies for "descendants" to possess. Even so, even though the process of DNA replication is extremely accurate, it still cannot be perfect and will produce transcription errors, which we call gene mutations - a cause of cancer. . In addition, it is these mutations that will be reproduced for other generations to come. This process goes on until the original cell DNA is completely distorted, leading to confusion about genetic information inside the tumors.

Dr. Graham and Dr. Sottovira used the process of reverse reading the genetic code to approach this problem, starting with the last point of the genetic codes disturbed in cancer cells and deciphering them to find copies. Genetic code of the previous generation. As such, they will find the original genetic code from the first cell. After using the data of 14 different cancers based on the genetic sequencing technique of the next generation, scientists have discovered that whenever a special mutation occurs, there will be signs of cancer and pieces of cells inside the tumor all possess a fragment of the original DNA before the mutation occurs.

Whenever a mutation occurs, there will be signs of cancer.

To search for DNA prototypes with such a large amount of data, many scientists have used complex computer programs to answer this question based on inductive methods. But the two doctors of the UK Cancer Research Center used a completely new approach, which found that the gene mutation model was more meaningful if viewed from the perspective of how the cancer mail can grow.

They found that gene mutations that appear right in the early stages of cancer will be present in most cells initially and other mutations will appear in the development of cancer. The latter only exists in younger generation cells, in other words, the later the mutation forms become rare but they are concentrated only in certain areas of the tumor.

Genetic mutations that occur right in the early stages of cancer will be present in most cells initially.

In fact, Dr. Graham admitted that this finding surprised them when they previously thought that different types of mutations would become less because even though they constantly divide next-generation cells. will still retain the same genetic information in some way compared to the stem cell.

Scientists have developed a formula that perfectly describes the mutant model of more than 200 types of cancer based on the principle of probability distribution of the power of leave (also called power-law in English) , wallet Its most famous example is the frequency description of words in English text. Dr. Graham added that power-law appears in all natural systems, such as earthquakes.

Seismic events of small size to the extent that can not be felt still occur around the world but the frequency of a major earthquake is about 1 decade or more. This indicates that time of occurrence of different seismic forms follows a rule and that is called power-law.

This indicates that time of occurrence of different seismic forms follows a rule and that is called power-law.

In addition, Dr. Graham added that finding a way to develop cancer confirms that common mutations present in most cell types will be similar to large earthquakes. they will have a lower frequency of occurrence than specific mutations that occur only in cells in the later stages of cancer. In other words, they found the basic law of cancer development.

With this study, Dr. Graham and Dr. Sottavira hope they can create a "math-based knowledge book" for other colleagues who can consult and supplement it. The purpose of this book is to simplify and improve the understanding of cancer for doctors and patients in the fight against the disease.