Review Article, J Clin Exp Oncol S Vol: 0 Issue: 0
Oncology and Biophysics: A Need for Integration
Sarah S Knox1* and Richard HW Funk2 | |
1Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health,West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA | |
2Institute of Anatomy and Center for Regenerative Therapies, Fiedlerstr 42 and Tatzberg, 01307 Dresden, USA | |
Corresponding author : Sarah Knox Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506, USA Tel: 304-293-1058 E-mail: sknox@hsc.wvu.edu |
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Received: August 12, 2013 Accepted: January 20, 2014 Published: January 28, 2014 | |
Citation: Knox SS, Richard HWF (2014) Oncology and Biophysics: A Need for Integration. J Clin Exp Oncol S1. doi:10.4172/2324-9110.S1-001 |
Abstract
Oncology and Biophysics: A Need for Integration
The mainstream view of cancer as a mutated cell that has become dysfunctional and multiplies out of control (the somatic mutation model) is much less consistent with extant data than the context dependent model. The latter focuses on interactions between the cell and its surrounding environment as the initiator and driver of malignancy. The genome wide epigenetic changes that precede cancer and confer risk for cancer, strongly suggest that multiple systems are affected by gene expression changes before tumors even manifest. This provides a partial explanation for cancer’s ability to adapt to targeted therapies as well as an explanation for the failure of multiple DNA repair mechanisms and other defenses(e.g. apoptosis, immune defenses) to eliminate mutated cells.