Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

326 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter “6x9”

7.3.3 Can PDE Be to Cell Biology What PRE is to Atomic Physics?

In Section 7.3.2, PDE has been shown to provide a quantitative method

for identifying the genes, some of whose transcript phenotypes are

correlated to the average SMs of groups of breast cancer patients

(Figures 7.17, 7.19, and 7.21). As an attempt to understand the possible

significance of this finding, I am inclined to suggest that

PDE is to cell biology what the Planck radiation equation was to

atomic physics. (7.27)

Statement (7.27) is in agreement with the atom–cell isomorphism

postulate discussed in Section 3.2 and [25, pp. 279–90].

Three important observations can be derived from Section 7.3.2:

(1) Most, if not all, mRNA histograms generated from human breast

cancer tissues, before and after treating with doxorubicin, fit PDE

(see Figures 7.16 and 7.17).

(2) About 30–50% of all the A vs. C plots generated from the PDE-fitting

mRNA histograms produced correlation coefficients greater than 0.6

(see Figures 7.18, 7.19, and 7.21).

(3) Many mRNA histograms produce the A vs. C plots whose slopes

change due to drug treatment (see Figures 7.18, 7.19, and 7.21), thus

giving rise to the concept of drug-induced ∆slopes that are often

linearly correlated with SM of different patient groups (see

Figures 7.20 and 7.22).

Observation (1) may simply mean that the mRNA level data measured

from human breast cancer tissues are not random but organized due to

some selection processes during human evolution and development of

individuals (cf. Section 8.4.1). In other words, the mRNA data measured

from the human breast cancer patients by Perou et al. [306] represent the

“organized complexity” of Weaver [331].

Observation (2) indicates that the physicochemical processes affect-

ing the first and the second terms of PDE, i.e., A and C, respectively, are

often coupled, if not always. The possible mechanism underlying this A–C

coupling may be inferred based on the analogy between the PRE and PDE

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