Role of mathematical concepts in cancer research.

The role of mathematics in cancer research is not confined to epidemiology (population level). The expected contribution of it in various levels is exemplified stepwise. At the individual level, prediction of life expectancy of a cancer case or psychological analysis of life-threatened patient; at the tissue level, stochastic estimation of future metastases; at the cellular level, model contruction for abnormal metabolic processes in malignant cell; at the molecular level, elucidation of carcinogenetic mechanism from a thermodynamic standpoint of view.