Can game theory explain invasive tumor metabolism?

G ame theory, the discipline behind the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind and the science that predicts strategies and payoffs in competitive scenarios, may explain how invasive cancer cells gain the upper hand in certain metabolic scenarios. For a report published in the December 2008 issue of Cell Proliferation , German researchers Andreas Deutsch, Ph.D. , and Haralambos Hatzikirou, Ph.D., from the Dresden University of Technology, and colleagues studied how tumor cells compete in the survival game. Applying the tools of game theory to low-grade glioma growth, Deutsch and his team found that in a tumor populated by glycolytic cells, invasive cells have a better chance of emerging. They conclude that the fi ndings may explain invasive growth under otherwise nonmalignant circumstances, and they suggest anti-invasive therapeutics. “To the best of our knowledge, ours is the fi rst attempt to use game theory to analyze the interplay of different tumor cell phenotypes with respect to tumor invasion,” said coauthor David Basanta, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow at the H. Lee Moffi tt Cancer Center’s mathematical oncology program in Tampa, Fla.