Figure 3
Schematic representation of the increase in entropy (S) associated with premalignant, subcellular changes over time and its potential reversal. More specifically, S gradually increases from the state of oncoprotein metastasis (OPM) in conjunction with oncoprotein (OP)-tumor suppressor protein (TSP) complex formations (OP × TSP) to the state of (epigenetic) tumor suppressor gene (TSG) promoter hypermethylations (hyperCH3) and again to the state of TSG loss of heterozygosity (LOH) defects, whereby each of their neutralization requires a corresponding amount of energy (E) or negative entropy, respectively, intrinsic to a given dose of a therapeutic compound (Rx). In this context, it should be specified that the (premalignant) stages of an OPM encompassing OP-TSP complex formations and of its epigenetic equivalent may be subject to a relatively high degree of spontaneous reversibility through natural mechanisms of cancer surveillance.