Stochastic Gompertz model of tumour cell growth

In this communication, based upon the deterministic Gompertz law of cell growth, a stochastic model in turnout 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. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.