Cancer as quasi-attractor in the gene expression phase space

It takes no more than 250 tissue types to build up a metazoan, and each tissue has a specific and largely invariant gene expression signature. This implies the 'viable configurations' correspondent to a given activated/inactivated expression pattern over the entire genome are very few. This points to the presence of few 'low energy deep valleys' correspondent to the allowed states of the system and is a direct consequence of the fact genes do not work by alone but embedded into genetic expression networks. Statistical thermodynamics formalism focusing on the changes in the degree of correlation of the studied systems allows to detect transition behavior in gene expression phase space resembling the phase transition of physical-chemistry studies. In this realm cancer can be intended as a sort of 'parasite' sub-attractor of the corresponding healthy tissue that, in the case of disease, is 'kinetically entrapped' into a sub-optimal solution. The consequences of such a state of affair for cancer therapies are potentially huge.