CARCINOGENESIS AS AN EVOLUTIONARY GAME

Thomas L. Vincent ()
Additional contact information
Thomas L. Vincent: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 2006, vol. 09, issue 04, 369-382

Abstract: Human cancer may be thought of as Darwinian evolution of cells within the body (somatic evolution). As such, it may be modeled using evolutionary game theory. Winners in this game are able to maintain viable population numbers while losers go extinct. A model for somatic evolution is presented that shows how cancer can evolve to become a winner in this game. Associated with the model is an adaptive landscape that illustrates the evolutionary potential of cells as a function of adaptive parameters used by cells. Normal cells have a novel adaptive landscape that permits coexistence of invading mutant phenotypes. A mutant cellular population needs not immediately form a malignancy due to the existence of cellular constraints that results in limited growth and non-lethal coexistence. However, this coexistence deforms the local adaptive landscape resulting in an unoccupied fitness peak. The existence of this peak provides the potential for evolution to drive the mutant cells from simple coexistence to an evasive cancer. The model presented here suggests all that is required to accomplish this result is the relaxation of constraints that normally prohibit cells to evolve.

Keywords: Evolutionary games; cancer; adaptive landscape (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219525906000872
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wsi:acsxxx:v:09:y:2006:i:04:n:s0219525906000872

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from

DOI: 10.1142/S0219525906000872

Access Statistics for this article

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) is currently edited by Frank Schweitzer

More articles in Advances in Complex Systems (ACS) from World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Tai Tone Lim ().