title: Recent translational research: computational studies of breast cancer.
abstract: The combination of mathematics--queen of sciences--and the general utility of computers has been used to make important inroads into insight-providing breast cancer research and clinical aids. These developments are in two broad areas. First, they provide useful prognostic guidelines for individual patients based on historic evidence. Second, by suggesting numeric tumor growth laws that are correlated to clinical parameters, they permit development of biologically relevant theories and comparison with patient data to help us understand complex biologic processes. These latter studies have produced many new ideas that are testable in clinical trials. In this review we discuss these developments from a clinical perspective, and ask whether and how they translate into useful tools for patient treatment.
authors.affiliation: Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Milan National Cancer Institute, Dorn VA Medical Center, Pepperdine University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. mretsky@att.net
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Retsky
authors.forename: Romano
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Demicheli
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hrushesky
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Speer
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Swartzendruber
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wardwell
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D019295:Computational Biology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011379:Prognosis