Scientists Use Game Theory to Fight Against Cancer Metastasis
The journey towards understanding and treating cancer has been a long one and scientists are still working on developing effective treatments against the disease that continues to plague patients. One such group of scientists, at Johns Hopkins University, have utilized game theory to identify one methodology that can be taken to fight effectively against metastasis, or the development of secondary tumor cells separate from the primary site of cancer.
Game theory consists of mathematical models that describe the best strategies for opponents to utilize when they are in “conflict.” The strategies of each opponent are independent of one another but the combination of both their strategies will correspond to specific payoffs for the opponents. The most famous model of game theory is the prisoner’s dilemma in which one prisoner must decide whether or not to confess based on what he believes the other prisoner will do.
In regards to cancer, scientists are currently investigating how tumor cells interact with and support one another to propagate the disease from one part of a person’s body to another. In analyzing the mechanism by which tumor cells facilitate metastasis, doctors can determine when the optimal time to attack a tumor is. In this “game” of cancer cells initiating the growth of a tumor, the cancer cells are the “players” and the choice for newly-mutated cells to adopt metabolic activities in oxygen-rich or oxygen-poor environments can be seen as their “strategies.” Cancer cells can be evaluated as players because they interact with some cells in cooperative relationships and others in competitive relationships. In oxygen-rich conditions, cells will utilize aerobic respiration to develop energy. In oxygen-poor conditions, however, cells will utilize anaerobic respiration to breakdown glucose to form energy. In the process of this energy generation, lactate is also formed. The lactate is further broken down into glucose for other cells to use for energy. This relationship is relatively cooperative but the mutation of cells causes fluctuations in energy exchange. The “payoffs” of these strategies are the energy that these cells are able to accumulate. In utilizing the mathematical equations associated with game theory to cancer cells and their lactate and glucose generation levels, specific transitions between normal and mutated cells can be detected within certain ranges. During these transitions or points of vulnerability, doctors can introduce treatments to effectively intervene with the cancer cells’ interactions with normal cells and prevent metastasis. While these cancer cell-normal cell interactions are only one component of cancer propagation, applying game theory to these interactions is one step forward towards understanding cancer as well as developing effective cancer treatment.
http://hub.jhu.edu/2014/07/16/cancer-evolutionary-game-theory