Mathematical analysis of a modular network coordinating the cell cycle and apoptosis.

The cell-division cycle and apoptosis are key cellular processes deregulated during carcinogenesis. Recent work of Aguda and Algar suggests a modular organization of regulatory molecular pathways linking the cellular processes of division and apoptosis. We carry out a detailed mathematical analysis of the Aguda-Algar model to unravel the dynamics implicit in the model structure. In addition, we further explore model parameters that control the bifurcations corresponding to the aforementioned cellular state tran- sitions. We show that this simple model predicts interesting behavior, such as hysteretic oscillations and different conditions in which apoptosis is triggered.