Stochastic Gompertz model of tumour cell growth.
In this communication, based upon the deterministic Gompertz law of cell growth, a stochastic model in tumour growth is proposed. This model takes account of both cell fission and mortality too. The corresponding density function of the size of the tumour cells obeys a functional Fokker--Planck equation which can be solved analytically. It is found that the density function exhibits an interesting "multi-peak" structure generated by cell fission as time evolves. Within this framework the action of therapy is also examined by simply incorporating a therapy term into the deterministic cell growth term.
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Institute of Theoretical Physics and Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR, China. cflo@phy.cuhk.edu.hk
D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002477:Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D013269:Stochastic Processes