The death-mutation model of carcinogenesis

Multistage models of carcinogenesis that include death and mutation of target cells at risk for cancer, but do not include cell division, may be appropriate for cancers in which clonal expansion arises downstream of the rate-determining step toward carcinogenesis. Such models are simpler than clonal expansion models, so when they are appropriate, they should be used. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how linear systems theory applies to these death-mutation models of carcinogenesis.