ABSTRACT
Describing cancer as "uncontrolled cell growth," as is frequently done, is a bit like calling a rocket "a stick that moves." Indeed, rockets move and cancers grow without a lot of regulation, but something is obviously amiss. "Cell growth," i.e., cells becoming larger, is not the problem. Cell replication (proliferation) is. But even saying "cancer is uncontrolled cell proliferation" still fails to uniquely characterize cancer because many other diseases such as, elephantiasis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diverticulitis and atherosclerosis to name a few also are characterized by uncontrolled proliferation. Tumor growth models have their historical roots in the work of Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Benjamin Gompertz. Although neither indicated in print any particular interest in tumors, both studied general growth equations that were later successfully applied to actual tumor data, along with many ecological applications. In science, competing theoretical models often are united when someone demonstrates that they are nothing more than special cases of a more global theoretical approach.
