Using a mathematical model known as the Ising model, invented to describe phase transitions in statistical physics, such as how a substance changes from liquid to gas, the Johns Hopkins researchers calculated the probability distribution of methylation along the genome in several different
human cell types, including normal and
cancerous colon, lung and liver
cells, as well as brain, skin,
blood and embryonic stem
cells.
Genetically reprogramming late - stage
human cancer
cells to a stem -
cell state enabled them to force the reprogrammed
cells to progress to an early
cancerous state, revealing secreted
blood biomarkers of early - stage disease along the way.