SummaryA continuous parameter, stationary Gaussian process is introduced as a first approach to the probabilistic representation of the phenotype inheritance process. With some specific assumptions about the components of the covariance function, it may describe the temporal behaviour of the “cancer-proneness phenotype” (CPF) as a quantitative continuous trait. Upcrossing a fixed level (“threshold”) u and reaching level zero are the extremes of the Gaussian process considered; it is assumed that they might be interpreted as the transformation of CPF into a “neoplastic disease phenotype” or as the non-proneness to cancer, respectively.
