title: An information-theory model of cellular survival, mutation and transformation and the relevance of this model to chemical carcinogenesis.
abstract: A model of cellular survival, mutation and transformation is presented in accordance with information theory. A cellular system is considered to be stable with respect to its environment when the vital information the cell expresses at least equals the information requirements of the environment. Environmental agents, such as mutagens, perturb the cell's expression of information such that an imbalance occurs between the cell's information requirement and the cell's ability to express vital information. This imbalance, which is interpreted as the intrinsic entropy of the cell, serves as a measure of biological cell death. If the cell compensates for the altered ability to express information by adapting to a less restricted set of information requirements, then one may view the cell as having undergone a "transformation" to a less restricted phenotype. This paper will elucidate the mathematical inter-relationships of cellular survival, mutation and transformation and will relate these mathematical concepts to chemical carcinogenesis.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002470:Cell Survival; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D005796:Genes; D007257:Information Theory; D051379:Mice; D008954:Models, Biological; D009153:Mutagens / Q000494:pharmacology; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics; D013816:Thermodynamics
chemical_list: D009153:Mutagens