Estimating birth and death rates from cell labeling data

摘要

The objective of this article is to provide a statistical method for estimating both birth and death rates from labeling data. Current practice of estimating cell division (birth) rate a by the formula LI(t) = 1 - exp(-2αt) suggests that the use of labeling index (LI) as a cell proliferation indicator may incur loss of valuable information inherited in the data that are used to calculate the index. Information about cell death has become increasingly important for understanding a disease processes, and for developing a biologically based dose-response model for environmental health risk assessments. Simple stochastic and deterministic models are proposed for estimating both birth and death rates simultaneously from labeling data.