Early Evolution in Cancer: A Mathematical Support for Pathological and Genomic Evidence in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) is an aggressive form of cancer and a paradigmatic example of intratumor heterogeneity (ITH). The hawk-dove game is a mathematical tool designed to analyze competition in biological systems. Using this game, the study reported here analyzes the early phase of CCRCC development, comparing clonal fitness in homogeneous (linear evolutionary) and highly heterogeneous (branching evolutionary) models.

Convergent insights into intratumor heterogeneity.

Mathematics, conventional histology, and genomics converge to confirm that highly aggressive clear cell renal cell carcinomas (CCRCCs) display low levels of intratumor heterogeneity (ITH). We hypothesize that therapeutic strategies aimed at maintaining high ITH levels would be advisable to slow down cancer evolution and to improve survival.

Effects of Heterogeneity on Cancer: A Game Theory Perspective.

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.

Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinomas with Aggressive Behavior Display Low Intratumor Heterogeneity at the Histological Level.

Purpose Of Review: Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) is an inherent characteristic of most tumors and its detection remains a key task for pathologists. However, the clinical significance of the degree of development of this feature is still poorly understood.

Recent Findings: A series of 28 clear cell renal cell carcinomas (CCRCC) have been exhaustively analyzed with two different sampling protocols [multisite tumor sampling (MSTS) and total sampling] to evaluate to what point the level (low vs.

Metastasis, an Example of Evolvability.

This overview focuses on two different perspectives to analyze the metastatic process taking clear cell renal cell carcinoma as a model, molecular and ecological. On the one hand, genomic analyses have demonstrated up to seven different constrained routes of tumor evolution and two different metastatic patterns. On the other hand, game theory applied to cell encounters within a tumor provides a sociological perspective of the possible behaviors of individuals (cells) in a collectivity.

Artificial distinction and real discrimination.

In this paper we consider the hawk-dove game played by a finite population formed by two types of individual who fail to recognize their own type but do observe the type of their opponent. In this game we find two evolutionarily stable strategies and show that in each of them one type of individuals suffers more aggression than the other. When a continuum of individuals is considered there are no evolutionarily stable strategies but neutrally stable strategies.