Cancer: A disease at the crossroads of trade‐offs

Jacqueline, Camille M.; Biro, Peter A.; Beckmann, Christa; Møller, Anders Pape; Renaud, François; Sorci, Gabriele; Tasiemski, Aurélie; Újvári, Beáta; Thomas, Frédéric

doi:10.1111/eva.12444

Cited by 52 publications

(66 citation statements)

References 132 publications

(137 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…oxygen and cytotoxic drug) diffuse in space, decay over time and are consumed by the cells. We note that the dynamics of abiotic factors is faster than cellular proliferation and death (Jacqueline et al, 2017;Walther et al, 2015). From a mathematical viewpoint, this means that we can assume oxygen and the cytotoxic drug to be in quasistationary equilibrium.…”

Section: Dynamics Of Abiotic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of spatial variations of abiotic factors in mediating intratumour phenotypic heterogeneity

Lorenzi

Venkataraman

Lorz

et al. 2018

Journal of Theoretical Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present here a space- and phenotype-structured model of selection dynamics between cancer cells within a solid tumour. In the framework of this model, we combine formal analyses with numerical simulations to investigate in silico the role played by the spatial distribution of abiotic components of the tumour microenvironment in mediating phenotypic selection of cancer cells. Numerical simulations are performed both on the 3D geometry of an in silico multicellular tumour spheroid and on the 3D geometry of an in vivo human hepatic tumour, which was imaged using computerised tomography. The results obtained show that inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution of oxygen, currently observed in solid tumours, can promote the creation of distinct local niches and lead to the selection of different phenotypic variants within the same tumour. This process fosters the emergence of stable phenotypic heterogeneity and supports the presence of hypoxic cells resistant to cytotoxic therapy prior to treatment. Our theoretical results demonstrate the importance of integrating spatial data with ecological principles when evaluating the therapeutic response of solid tumours to cytotoxic therapy.

show abstract

Section: Dynamics Of Abiotic Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of spatial variations of abiotic factors in mediating intratumour phenotypic heterogeneity

Lorenzi

Venkataraman

Lorz

et al. 2018

Journal of Theoretical Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Frustration caused by the conflict between the selection pressures at the cellular and organismal levels is an intrinsic feature of the evolution of multicellular life forms [100,101]. The stable resolution of this frustration involves control over cell division, providing for the evolutionary stability of multicellular organisms, but an alternative, also common solution is cancer [102][103][104]. Sexual reproduction involves a different level of conflict [105,106], and eusociality, obviously, entails another [107].…”

Section: Life Glasses and Patterns: Frustrated Systems And Biologicamentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards physical principles of biological evolution

2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological systems reach organizational complexity that far exceeds the complexity of any known inanimate objects. Biological entities undoubtedly obey the laws of quantum physics and statistical mechanics. However, is modern physics sufficient to adequately describe, model and explain the evolution of biological complexity? Detailed parallels have been drawn between statistical thermodynamics and the population-genetic theory of biological evolution. Based on these parallels, we outline new perspectives on biological innovation and major transitions in evolution, and introduce a biological equivalent of thermodynamic potential that reflects the innovation propensity of an evolving population. Deep analogies have been suggested to also exist between the properties of biological entities and processes, and those of frustrated states in physics, such as glasses. Such systems are characterized by frustration whereby local state with minimal free energy conflict with the global minimum, resulting in "emergent phenomena". We extend such analogies by examining frustration-type phenomena, such as conflicts between different levels of selection, in biological evolution. These frustration effects appear to drive the evolution of biological complexity. We further address evolution in multidimensional fitness landscapes from the point of view of percolation theory and suggest that percolation at level above the critical threshold dictates the tree-like evolution of complex organisms. Taken together, these multiple connections between fundamental processes in physics and biology imply that construction of a meaningful physical theory of biological evolution might not be a futile effort. However, it is unrealistic to expect that such a theory can be created in one scoop; if it ever comes to being, this can only happen through integration of multiple physical models of evolutionary processes. Furthermore, the existing framework of theoretical physics is unlikely to suffice for adequate modeling of the biological level of complexity, and new developments within physics itself are likely to be required.2

show abstract

“…Frustration caused by the conflict between the selection pressures at the cellular and organismal levels is an intrinsic feature of the evolution of multicellular life forms [110,111]. The stable resolution of this frustration involves control over cell division, providing for the evolutionary stability of multicellular organisms, but an alternative, also common solution is cancer [112][113][114].…”

Section: Life Glasses and Patterns: Frustrated Systems And Biologicamentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards physical principles of biological evolution

Katsnelson¹,

Wolf

Koonin

2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biological systems reach organizational complexity that far exceeds the complexity of any known inanimate objects. Biological entities undoubtedly obey the laws of quantum physics and statistical mechanics. However, is modern physics sufficient to adequately describe, model and explain the evolution of biological complexity? Detailed parallels have been drawn between statistical thermodynamics and the population-genetic theory of biological evolution. Based on these parallels, we outline new perspectives on biological innovation and major transitions in evolution, and introduce a biological equivalent of thermodynamic potential that reflects the innovation propensity of an evolving population. Deep analogies have been suggested to also exist between the properties of biological entities and processes, and those of frustrated states in physics, such as glasses. Such systems are characterized by frustration whereby local state with minimal free energy conflict with the global minimum, resulting in "emergent phenomena". We extend such analogies by examining frustration-type phenomena, such as conflicts between different levels of selection, in biological evolution. These frustration effects appear to drive the evolution of biological complexity. We further address evolution in multidimensional fitness landscapes from the point of view of percolation theory and suggest that percolation at level above the critical threshold dictates the tree-like evolution of complex organisms. Taken together, these multiple connections between fundamental processes in physics and biology imply that construction of a meaningful physical theory of biological evolution might not be a futile effort. However, it is unrealistic to expect that such a theory can be created in one scoop;if it ever comes to being, this can only happen through integration of multiple physical models of evolutionary processes. Furthermore, the existing framework of theoretical physics is unlikely to suffice for adequate modeling of the biological level of complexity, and new developments within physics itself are likely to be required.

show abstract

Cancer: A disease at the crossroads of trade‐offs

Cited by 52 publications

References 132 publications

The role of spatial variations of abiotic factors in mediating intratumour phenotypic heterogeneity

The role of spatial variations of abiotic factors in mediating intratumour phenotypic heterogeneity

Towards physical principles of biological evolution

Towards physical principles of biological evolution

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About