Cancer cells exist in an ever-changing “ecology” and are subject to evolutionary pressures just like any species in nature. This edited book explores the following themes: 1) how the dynamics of mutation, epigenetics, and gene expression noise are sources of genetic diversity; 2) how scarce resources influence cancer therapy resistance; 3) how predator-prey dynamics are mirrored in immune-cancer cross-talk; 4) how cancer cells parallel niche construction theory; 5) how changing fitness landscapes enable cancer growth; and 6) how cancer cells interact within the body. The book is a resource for understanding cancer as a disease of multicellularity grounded in evolutionary principles. By using this knowledge, researchers are starting to exploit these behaviors for treatment paradigms.
Key Features
- Bridges disciplines exemplifying the ways disparate fields create new perspectives when integrated.
- Offers insights from leading scholars in cancer biology, ecology and evolutionary biology.
- Provides a timely recognition by oncologists that evolutionary paradigms are crucial for breakthroughs in cancer treatment.
- Integrates basic and applied sciences of oncology and evolutionary biology.
Table of Contents:
Foreword
Randolph Nesse
Chapter 1: A species within a species
Jason A. Somarelli and Norman A. Johnson
Chapter 2: Therapy As a Driver of Evolutionary Selection
Dana Ataya, Joel S. Brown and Robert A. Gatenby
Chapter 3: The Genetic Hitchhiker’s Guide to Tumor Evolution
Rohini Janivara and Joseph Lachance
Chapter 4: Multicellularity, phenotypic heterogeneity, and cancer
Christopher Helenek, Jason A. Somarelli, and Gábor Balázsi
Chapter 5: Feedback loops in gene regulatory networks and cell-cell communication networks: drivers of cancer cell plasticity
Yeshwanth Mahesh, Subbalakshmi Ayalur Raghu, Mohit Kumar Jolly
Chapter 6: Polygenic Evolution of Germline Variants in Cancer
Ujani Hazra and Joseph Lachance
Chapter 7: Two-phased cancer evolution: the pattern and scale of genomic and nongenomic landscapes
Andrzej Kasperski and Henry H. Heng
Chapter 8: Evolutionary and ecological perspective on the multiple states of T cell exhaustion
Irina Kareva and Joel S. Brown
Chapter 9: Landscape Genetics for Cancer Biology
Erin L. Landguth and Norman A. Johnson
Chapter 10: Tumor Island Biogeography: Theory and Clinical Applications
Antonia Chroni
Chapter 11: Cancer and the Evolutionary Ecology of Invasions
Joel S. Brown, Sarah A. Amend and Kenneth J. Pienta
Chapter 12: Unifying Theories in Comparative Oncology
Zachary T. Compton
Chapter 13: From Evolutionary Biology to Bedside and Beyond: A View of Comparative Oncology Throughout the Translational Pipeline
Veronica Colmenares, William C. Eward, Laurie A. Graves
Chapter 14: What do we gain from viewing cancer through an eco-evo lens?
Jason A. Somarelli and Norman A. Johnson
