Department of Economic Analysis (ANEKO), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Avenida Lehendakari Aguirre, 83, 48015, Bilbao, Spain.
IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation of Science, 48011, Bilbao, Spain.
Bull Math Biol. 2023 Jun 19;85(8):72. doi: 10.1007/s11538-023-01178-9.
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 cell. We determine what strategies are evolutionarily stable in the 2-type and 3-type population games and what the corresponding expected payoffs are. 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. When these mathematical findings are transferred to the field of oncology they suggest that a tumor with low intratumor heterogeneity pursues a more aggressive course than one with high intratumor heterogeneity. Some histological and genomic data on clear cell renal cell carcinomas is consistent with these results. We underline the importance of identifying intratumor heterogeneity in routine practice and suggest that therapeutic strategies that preserve heterogeneity may be promising as they may slow down cancer growth.
在这项研究中，我们通过使用鹰鸽博弈来探索癌细胞之间的相互作用。我们通过考虑由 2 种或 3 种类型的细胞组成的种群的博弈来分析肿瘤的异质性。我们确定了在 2 种群和 3 种群博弈中哪些策略是进化稳定的，以及相应的预期收益是多少。我们的结果表明，2 种群博弈中最佳细胞的收益高于 3 种群博弈中最佳细胞的收益。当这些数学发现被转移到肿瘤学领域时，它们表明，肿瘤内异质性较低的肿瘤比肿瘤内异质性较高的肿瘤具有更具侵略性的病程。一些关于透明细胞肾细胞癌的组织学和基因组数据与这些结果一致。我们强调了在常规实践中识别肿瘤内异质性的重要性，并提出了保持异质性的治疗策略可能是有前途的，因为它们可能会减缓癌症的生长。
