Statistico-mechanics of chromosomal insertions in human cancers

The paper discusses a mechanism for segmental insertions (ins) between two chromatids. In human cancers,such rearrangements are significantly less fre quent than reciprocal translocations (rt). Regarding the clinical incidence of ins versus rf, the proposed dynamics is more satisfactory than the rand om mutation hypothesis. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.