Universal law of growth tested on tumors

BOSTON, Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Researchers tested the universal law that describes the growth of animals with the growth of tumors, New Scientist reported.

The law says that as an animal's mass increases, so does the number of cells within it, but the blood supply feeding those cells grows more slowly, so the nutrients go toward maintenance instead of growth.

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Thomas Deisboeck at Harvard-MIT Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging in Cambridge, Mass., and a team at the University of Turin, Italy, compared their predictions to the growth of 13 rodent or human tumors and they found the tumors' growth closely followed the same universal law.

The study, published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, said the exceptions to the law could reveal other interesting aspects of cancer biology.

"Discrepancies suggest that tumors may use certain tools or weaponry to overcome obstacles in their environment such as nutrient deficiency or mechanical stress," said Deisboeck.