CANCER cells may not have foresight, but between them they can hatch strategies of attack. An analysis of how these strategies develop is providing insights into the disease which may lead to new treatments.
Because cells in a tumour differ in their mutations and needs, you can use 鈥済ame theory鈥� to understand how they interact, says Robert Axelrod, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The 鈥済ame鈥� 鈥� to grow a successful tumour that can spread to new locations 鈥� proceeds more efficiently for all players if they cooperate, and this can occur without the players developing conscious strategies.
鈥淚t鈥檚 well established that tumour cells grow by diffusing growth factors into the neighbouring tissue,鈥� says Axelrod. Some cells don鈥檛 have the 鈥渇ull deck鈥� of mutations needed to produce every growth factor, overcome host defences and seed new tumours, but they can help each other by contributing the missing abilities and growth signals, he says. For example, a cell that promotes blood vessel growth in the tumour鈥檚 vicinity will also benefit other precancerous cells (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 103, p 13474).
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The recognition that cancer cells cooperate has implications for understanding how the disease develops, and may lead to new approaches to therapy. 鈥淔or example, you could change the micro-environment of a tumour so that the diffusion chemicals don鈥檛 travel so far,鈥� says Axelrod.
