[The use of the catastrophe theory method in simulating dynamics of multi-stage skin cancerogenesis]

A mathematical model of multistage mouse skin carcinogenesis which describes a qualitative dynamics of this phenomenon is suggested. According to this model the change in the internal state of initiated cells in promotion is determined by geometry of the Whitney catastrophe into which the surface of conditions of intact cells is transformed as a result of initiation. Molecular events underlying the convertible and unconvertible expression of a transformed phenotype by an initiated cell under the promoter action, as well as the relationship of these processes to the mechanisms of oncogene activation are discussed.