The impact of phenotypic heterogeneity of tumour cells on treatment and relapse dynamics.

ABSTRACT: Intratumour heterogeneity is increasingly recognized as a frequent problem for cancer treatment as it allows for the evolution of resistance against treatment. While cancer genotyping becomes more and more established and allows to determine the genetic heterogeneity, less is known about the phenotypic heterogeneity among cancer cells. We investigate how phenotypic differences can impact the efficiency of therapy options that select on this diversity, compared to therapy options that are independent of the phenotype. We employ the ecological concept of trait distributions and characterize the cancer cell population as a collection of subpopulations that differ in their growth rate. We show in a deterministic model that growth rate-dependent treatment types alter the trait distribution of t

SUBMITTER: Raatz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7906468 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature