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Game theory and cancer
- Mesut Tez, Erdal Göçmen,özgür Akgül and Mahmut Koç (16 July 2008)
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Mesut Tez, surgical oncologist Ankara Numune hospital 5th surgery clinic,06100 Ankara Turkey, Erdal Göçmen,özgür Akgül and Mahmut Koç
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Dear Sir; We agree with Demicheli and colleagues (1) that while primary breast cancer surgical removal favorably modifies the natural history for some patients, it may also hasten the metastatic development for others. The evolution of cooperation has a well established theoretical framework based on game theory (2).This approach has made valuable contributions to a wide variety of disciplines, including political science, economics, and biology. The prototypical example is the Prisoner's Dilemma, where the payoff from a specific strategy depends on whether the other player collaborates or defects(3). We can add this theory to cancer by regarding primary tumor and micrometastases as players. Biology now uses game theory to understand the origin, spread, and maintenance of cooperation. The evolutionary interpretation of game theory uses standard Darwinian principles: players that interact with each other and their environment, phenotypes that are heritable, change in heritable genotypes by mutation and other mechanisms, competition among individuals for limited resources, and selection. Two kinds of cooperation have been recognized: commensalism, in which one player of a pair benefits but not the other; and mutualism, in which both benefit, resulting in synergy. In each case, new properties may emerge in a cooperating group that the players do not exhibit. Cooperation among players may take the form of by- product mutualism by sharing resources. At least three of the hallmarks involve sharable resources: angiogenesis, self-sufficiency of certain growth signals, and tissue invasion and metastasis (3). In conclusion; application of game theory can resolve this disease paradigm. References 1. Demicheli R, Retsky MW, Hrushesky WJ, Baum M, Gukas ID. The effects of surgery on tumor growth: a century of investigations. Ann Oncol. 2008 Jun 10. 2. Gatenby RA, Vincent TL. An evolutionary model of carcinogenesis.Cancer Res. 2003 1;63:6212-20. 3. Axelrod R, Axelrod DE, Pienta KJ. Evolution of cooperation among tumor cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 ;103:13474-9 Conflict of Interest:None declared |
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