2013/05/10 by David Basanta, Basanta, David, Alexander R.A. Anderson +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Mathematics · Psychology · #Argument (complex analysis) #Artificial intelligence #Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks #Biology #Cancer #Cognitive science #Computer science #Ecology #Economics #Ecosystem #FOS: Biological sciences #Gene Regulatory Network Analysis #Mathematical Biology Tumor Growth #Parallels #Perspective (graphical) #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE) #Psychology #Tissues and Organs (q-bio.TO) #q-bio.PE #q-bio.TO
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1305.2249
6 figures, 1 example
arxiv created 2013/05/10 · openalex publication_date 2013/05/10 · arxiv updated 2013/05/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
A small but growing number of people are finding interesting parallels between ecosystems as studied by ecologists (think of a Savanna or the Amazon rain forest or a Coral reef) and tumours1-3. The idea of viewing cancer from an ecological perspective has many implications but fundamentally, it means that we should not see cancer just as a group of mutated cells. A more useful definition of cancer is to consider it a disruption in the complex balance of many interacting cellular and microenvironmental elements in a specific organ. This perspective means that organs undergoing carcinogenesis should be seen as sophisticated ecosystems in homeostasis that cancer cells can disrupt. It also makes cancer seem even more complex but may ultimately provides isights that make it more treatable. Here we discuss how ecological principles can be used to better understand cancer progression and treatment, using several mathematical and computational models to illustrate our argument.