Development of a population of cancer cells: Observation and modeling by a Mixed Spatial Evolutionary Games approach

• Published in: Journal of theoretical biology Vol. 405; pp. 94 - 103
• Main Authors: Świerniak, Andrzej, Krześlak, Michał, Student, Sebastian, Rzeszowska-Wolny, Joanna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 21.09.2016
• Subjects: Biological Evolution; Biomathematical modeling; Cell Communication; Cell Proliferation; Evolutionary games; Game Theory; HeLa Cells; Humans; Intercellular communication; Living cell heterogeneity; Models, Biological; Neoplasms - pathology; Phenotype; Probability; Spatial effects; Time Factors; Tumor development; Spatial effects; Living cell heterogeneity; Biomathematical modeling; Intercellular communication; Evolutionary games; Tumor development
• ISSN: 0022-5193; 1095-8541; 1095-8541
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2016.05.027

Living cells, like whole living organisms during evolution, communicate with their neighbors, interact with the environment, divide, change their phenotypes, and eventually die. The development of specific ways of communication (through signaling molecules and receptors) allows some cellular subpopulations to survive better, to coordinate their physiological status, and during embryonal development to create tissues and organs or in some conditions to become tumors. Populations of cells cultured in vitro interact similarly, also competing for space and nutrients and stimulating each other to better survive or to die. The results of these intercellular interactions of different types seem to be good examples of biological evolutionary games, and have been the subjects of simulations by the methods of evolutionary game theory where individual cells are treated as players. Here we present examples of intercellular contacts in a population of living human cancer HeLa cells cultured in vitro and propose an evolutionary game theory approach to model the development of such populations. We propose a new technique termed Mixed Spatial Evolutionary Games (MSEG) which are played on multiple lattices corresponding to the possible cellular phenotypes which gives the possibility of simulating and investigating the effects of heterogeneity at the cellular level in addition to the population level. Analyses performed with MSEG suggested different ways in which cellular populations develop in the case of cells communicating directly and through factors released to the environment. •Cells in a population communicate by signaling factors and/or by direct contacts.•Communication determines evolution of multi-phenotypic cell populations.•Evolution can be simulated by Spatial Evolutionary Game Theory (SEGT) model.•Cell signaling types are reflected by probabilistic and deterministic SEGT approaches.•Novel Mixed Evolutionary Game Theory simulates well multi-phenotypic evolution.