Effects of heterogeneity on cancer: a game theory perspective

TL;DR

This paper uses game theory to analyze tumor heterogeneity, revealing how different cell types influence tumor aggressiveness and providing insights consistent with clinical data.

Contribution

It introduces a game-theoretic model to study tumor heterogeneity and predicts tumor progression patterns based on cell interactions.

Findings

Best-off cell payoff is higher in 2-type populations than in 3-type populations.

Branching tumors tend to be less aggressive than punctuated tumors.

Model predictions align with histological and genomic data of renal cell carcinomas.

Abstract

In this study, we explore interactions between cancer cells by using the hawk-dove game. We analyze the heterogeneity of tumors by considering games with populations composed of 2 or 3 types of cells. We determine what strategies are evolutionarily stable in the 2-type and 3-type population games and the corresponding expected payoffs. Our results show that the payoff of the best-off cell in the 2-type population game is higher than that of the best-off cell in the 3-type population game. Translating these mathematical findings to the field of oncology suggests that a branching-type tumor pursues a less aggressive course than a punctuated-type one. Some histological and genomic data of clear cell renal cell carcinomas are consistent with these results.