title: Differentiation trajectories in normal and malignant cells.
abstract: We discuss a model for the organization of differentiation paths within the vector spaces of the cell genome. It is conjectured that the nuclear vesicle apparatus participates in the coordination of genes along nuclear trajectories directing cell commitment to terminal maturation. In this scenario, nuclear (onco)genes are interpreted as regulators of transcriptional exchanges among spatially correlated genes. The paper digresses on events leading to anachronistic acquisition of immortal growth by normally dependent cells as well as on the time and path dependent incidence of cancer, in vivo. Albeit the mathematico-physical foundations have been largely ignored, the basic ideas were derived from order-disorder transitions in chaotic systems whose dynamics are not pervasively random. The paper ends with a brief note on tumor heterogeneity, seen as a logistic phenomenon complementing the interpretation offered by (1).
authors.affiliation: University of Southern California, School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Los Angeles 90033-1054.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Matioli
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009857:Oncogenes; D014158:Transcription, Genetic