The Unification of Medical Theory Development and the Hypothesis of Abnormal Information in Tumor Cells

(III) Development and Unification of Medical Theories

The focus of the following content is the unification of modern understanding of the "nature-human body relationship" with the development of medical theories.

In the past half-century, many new disciplines have emerged. The proposals and developments of dissipative structure theory, cybernetics, information theory, systems theory, molecular biology, quantum biology, as well as neurohumoral theory, homeostasis theory, stress theory, immunology theory, and receptor theory have made the "nature-human body relationship" more complete.

Takatsu, from the perspective of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, discussed the dissipative structures of life. The human body is no exception. He believed that dissipative structures can only be maintained through the exchange of energy (and in some cases, matter) with the external environment. The formation of the human body's ordered structure is far from thermodynamic equilibrium, and its maintenance requires the exchange of matter and energy with the external environment-that is, the process of ingesting food and eliminating waste. Dissipative structures can reveal the internal compositional laws of the human body and the relationship between the body and its external environment. Both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine can use this theory as a basis; when the body's dissipative structures change (i.e., when illness occurs), material therapy and energy therapy can be administered to restore the body to health.

Cybernetics, information theory, and systems theory explore the "nature-human body relationship" from the perspectives of the whole, the relationships between its internal parts, and its relationship with the natural world. Systems theory posits that the structure and function of life possess "purposefulness" and order. Through interaction and synergy with other systems, the organism is pulled from motion towards a "predetermined" stable state, in which it oscillates under normal circumstances. The human body is a complex, three-dimensional network system, possessing integrity, interconnectedness, and dynamism. Maintaining these properties requires information exchange between systems. Information theorists have proposed the possibility of using information entropy as a measure of system diversity and organization. The human body is an open system of information. During normal physiological processes, when the body's internal ordered structure is continuously disrupted due to metabolism, information entropy increases. Simultaneously, the body continuously receives information (negative entropy) from the outside, synthesizing a highly ordered structure within the body, thus reducing information entropy. The essence of human life is the continuous reception and absorption of information, adjusting the body's internal balance, and adapting to environmental changes. When the body's exchange of information with the external world or between different parts of the body becomes abnormal, disease arises. We can administer different types of drugs or acupuncture based on changes in the quantity and nature of this information, inputting information of a certain nature and quantity to restore the body to its original stable state. Cybernetics is also revealing the secrets of the human body, with research into neurocytology being particularly in-depth. All of these fall under the category of the laws governing the human body. These disciplines will be direct contributing factors to the formation of the "nature-human body relationship," and will promote the birth and development of intermediate medical theories.

Molecular biology primarily studies three-dimensional structures and their molecular morphology, but this does not mean that molecular biology is merely a refined improvement of morphology. Molecular biology also explores both heredity and function. Quantum biology is "the application of quantum mechanics as a tool to biological problems." It can also be described as a discipline that studies biological phenomena at the electronic level. Both disciplines study the regular movements within organisms from a microscopic perspective, advancing our understanding of the world.

The emergence and research of stress and immunity theories have concretized the general concept of resistance or "vital energy." Stress primarily refers to the body's response to sudden adverse influences, involving significant changes in the levels of various hormones and the body's resistance to these adverse effects. Immunity, on the other hand, is the body's response to the invasion of foreign substances. It has three functions: immune protection, immune homeostasis (or autoimmunity), and immune surveillance. Neurohumoral, homeostasis, and receptor theories also study the internal laws of the body. Therefore, they all fall under the category of the "nature-human body relationship." While they are part of Western medical theory, they also contribute to revealing the essence of traditional Chinese medicine theory and form the basis for a unified medical theory in the future.

Now, we return to the initial question of unifying medical theories. The ultimate outcome of the development of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine theories is the formation of a unified and complete medical theoretical system. Before unification, intermediate medical theoretical systems will inevitably emerge; this is a transitional stage. The unification of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine theories is both inevitable and possible.

The necessity of existence: (1) The theories of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine respectively originate from the apparent laws of the body and the internal laws of the body, and originate from the "nature-human body relationship". The source is two aspects of one thing, and the final development will inevitably be the mutual penetration of the two aspects to become a whole describing objective things. (2) The laws of nature tell us that things in nature always develop in the direction of differentiation and unification. There must be a synthesis and unification after differentiation, so as to explain the whole picture of things. The grand unification theory of physics reduces the four forces of nature (electromagnetic force, strong interaction force, weak interaction force, and gravity) to one basic force, and some of its theories have been confirmed. Medical theories will also inevitably be unified into the most basic theories. (3) The theories of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and both are incomplete. Traditional Chinese medicine mainly starts from the perspective of wholeness, system, and syndrome differentiation, while Western medicine mainly starts from the perspective of local, differentiation, and disease differentiation. The principles of medication of the two are completely different. Therefore, both Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) may cure the same disease; however, Western medicine is unable to treat diseases with unclear diagnoses, while TCM can cure them through syndrome differentiation; but for infectious diseases, Western medicine's causal treatment is very effective, while the cure rate of TCM is not as high as that of Western medicine; for intractable diseases, the treatment effects of both TCM and Western medicine are not good. Only by unifying TCM and Western medicine can intractable diseases be cured. Of course, this does not refer to the current integration of TCM and Western medicine.

Possibilities include: (1) During the medical revolution, there was guidance from modern philosophical thought, advancement of natural science, and enhanced cognitive abilities. The rapid development of natural science, especially the development of biology, has had a significant promoting effect on medicine. Recently, in the paper "Conducting Basic Research on Human Body Science" by the famous scientist Qian Xuesen, he believed that the human body is a highly complex giant system. He believed that Qigong, traditional Chinese medicine theory, and human special functions contain the most fundamental principles of human body science. Research on human body science and life science has been carried out one after another, which has laid the foundation for the future unification of medicine. (2) The current integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine has made it possible for both theories to be combined with modern science. (3) Many medical scientists around the world are working hard for the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

The establishment of a new, unified medical theory will better protect people's physical and mental health, and cure intractable diseases such as cancer, cerebrovascular disease, heart disease, and mental illness. In turn, it will promote the development of natural sciences.

III. Production of Tumor Cells

-- Abnormal movement of cellular information

Information exists within an organism, and information exchange is constantly occurring. What is information? Information cannot exist without matter and energy; it depends on matter and energy. Information exists within matter, and every substance carries a certain amount of information. The substances that make up a living organism possess a special kind of information: life information. We can consider the organism as an information body, constantly exchanging information with the outside world to ensure the stability of information entropy and maintain the organism's life activities. This concept of information is quite broad; any substance related to the organism carries information for exchange and interacts with the organism. Information also flows between the various systems within the organism, each system possessing a certain information entropy, as does each cell.

Cells are composed of various molecules, ions, and particles, and these molecules, ions, and particles possess certain information. Therefore, a cell is a living information entity with a certain information entropy, which has a certain range. Let the information entropy (cell) be A, and the information entropy of a cell in normal life be A±a. When the information entropy is Aa, the cell structure is most orderly and rational, and cell metabolism is in its best state, neither active nor on the verge of exhaustion. When the information entropy is A+a, the cell structure is less orderly and rational, and is at the critical point of normal cell state. The information entropy of embryonic cells and normally proliferating cells is within the range of A to A+a. If the information entropy of a cell is A+a+b, then the cell has reached the boundary between life and death. When the information entropy is within the range of A+a to A+a+b, the cell structure is less orderly and rational. Cell metabolism can manifest in the following two situations: (1) Cell metabolism is in an uncoordinated and abnormally vigorous state. This refers to tumor cells. (2) Cell metabolism is in a state of complete exhaustion. This refers to aging cells.

Cellular information bodies are composed of various molecular, ionic, and particle information. Abnormal exchange of any of these information types can lead to cell carcinogenesis or death.

(I) Cellular and Molecular Information and Tumors

The molecular information of cells is relatively well understood. Advances in molecular biology and endocrinology, in particular, have led to in-depth research into the genetic information of nucleic acids and the information of proteins and hormones. These will not be elaborated upon here. Nucleotides, amino acids, fatty acids, glucose, vitamins, oxygen, water, and other molecules are all important components of the cellular information body. Each type of molecular information maintains the stability of the cellular information body; they are interconnected and mutually restrictive. Each molecule possesses certain biological information, and only when various molecular information exists in appropriate proportions can a complete and healthy cellular information body be formed. When there is too much or too little of a certain type of molecular information, the proportions of various molecular information become imbalanced, resulting in information imbalance. The information entropy of the information body deviates from A and shifts towards a positive value. If this cannot be corrected over a long period, the information entropy will further shift towards a positive value, exceeding A+a, leading to abnormal cell proliferation or gradual aging.

The emergence of tumor cells initially indicates a disruption in cellular information entropy between A+a and A+a+b, leading to a disorder in the exchange of cellular molecular information. The information body structure, composed of normal molecular information, can be damaged by chemical substances (such as aflatoxin, 3,4-benzo[a]pyrene, etc.). When cells receive abnormal information molecules, the normal changes in the information body are inevitably affected. Viral DNA entry into cells, a lack of vitamin molecular information, and abnormal intracellular and extracellular water molecule exchange can all lead to structural abnormalities in the cellular information body.

Generally speaking, viruses consist of a protein capsid and a core nucleic acid. However, the virus also contains water, various ions, and DNA polymerase. When a virus comes into contact with a cell, the viral core nucleic acid, water, various ions, and certain enzymes enter the cell. For the cell, this process disrupts normal information exchange. The coordination of information between various molecular aggregates within the cell (such as mitochondria, the nucleus, and the protein synthesis system) is affected. Due to the attraction between viral nucleic acid and cellular nucleic acid, they can bind to each other, incorporating into the cellular DNA and activating tumor genes on normal cell genes, leading to carcinogenesis. On the other hand, when infected cells replicate viral nucleic acid and synthesize excessive viral proteins, the cells rupture, and the cell contents are dispersed into the extracellular fluid of normal cells, causing significant changes in the external environment of normal cells. The concentrations of certain proteins, nucleic acids, and potassium ions in the extracellular fluid increase, allowing the cell to receive excessive information. Thus, frequent cell rupture and long-term changes in the environment surrounding normal cells lead to abnormal cell information structure and cell carcinogenesis. The formation of lung tumor cells is not necessarily the result of direct viral action on cells. For example, HBV (hepatitis B virus) protein is commonly found in the liver tissue of patients with PHC (hepatocellular carcinoma), as confirmed by histochemical staining or immunological techniques. HBsAg and HBcAg are not detected, or are present only in small amounts within the tumor cells themselves, but are found in non-malignant cells adjacent to the tumor and in other parts of the liver. This suggests that tumor cells may be uninfected by the virus, while surrounding non-malignant cells may be infected. Of course, the production of tumor cells is always the result of abnormal communication between the intracellular and extracellular spaces.