Cancer Systems Biology: a peek into the future of patient care?

Abstract

Traditionally, scientific research has focused on studying individual events, such as single mutations, gene function or the effect of the manipulation of one protein on a biological phenotype. A range of technologies, combined with the ability to develop robust and predictive mathematical models, is beginning to provide information that will enable a holistic view of how the genomic and epigenetic aberrations in cancer cells can alter the homeostasis of signalling networks within these cells, between cancer cells and the local microenvironment, at the organ and organism level. This systems biology process needs to be integrated with an iterative approach wherein hypotheses and predictions that arise from modelling are refined and constrained by experimental evaluation. Systems biology approaches will be vital for developing and implementing effective strategies to deliver personalized cancer therapy. Specifically, these approaches will be important to select those patients most likely to benefit from targeted therapies as well as for the development and implementation of rational combinatorial therapies. Systems biology can help to increase therapy efficacy or bypass the emergence of resistance, thus converting the current (often short term) effects of targeted therapies into durable responses, ultimately to improve quality of life and provide a cure.

Towards personalized computational oncology: from spatial models of tumour spheroids, to organoids, to tissues

“…Mathematical methods, by their nature, can simultaneously handle multiple variables that describe different elements of the whole cancer system. These can be applied to represent various tumour features, intercellular interactions and a wide range of treatment combinations and schedules in order to optimize anti-cancer therapy [174,175]. When calibrated with patients' data and tested with validated experimental models, these relatively fast and inexpensive mathematical oncology methods could be used to design effective therapeutic strategies for each individual patient in the form of patient-specific virtual clinical trials (figure 3).…”

The possibility of clinical sequencing in the management of cancer

“…To date, this approach has been successfully adopted in a variety of medical fields, such as cardiovascular disease and metabolic or infectious disease (21). Clinical oncology is likely to be one of the most appropriate medical fields for precision medicine to have an impact (22)(23)(24)(25).…”

Convergence of regenerative medicine and synthetic biology to develop standardized and validated models of human diseases with clinical relevance

“…Understanding and identifying the key features of a disease is a conditio sine qua non and the following important questions have to be answered before the modelling process can be started [20]. What are the organs, tissues, key cell populations, molecular pathways and factors involved in the disease development?…”