Darwin explains Cancer – How evolution shapes cancer progression and adaptation
As part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, researchers at St. Anna CCRI share insights into their current research projects. Here, George Cresswell explains how Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution applies to how cancer grows and adapts to resist treatments and evade the immune system.
In Simple Terms
– Tumors are composed of different types of cells that compete and adapt in a process similar to Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution.
– Understanding this process can help explain how tumors evade the immune system and develop resistance to treatments.
– George Cresswell’s team studies tumor evolution to identify ways to counteract this process and to predict how well patients will respond to treatment.
A tumor is not simply a mass of identical, rapidly growing cells, but rather a collection of different cells carrying a variety of genetic lesions. Like animals in nature, these cells compete for survival, adapting to better access the body’s resources –nutrients and oxygen — while avoiding threats such as the immune system. Over time, certain cell types prevail while others disappear, making the tumor stronger, more aggressive and more resistant. George Cresswell‘s group at St. Anna CCRI studies this process using computational biology tools that allow them to identify the genetic differences between cancer cells and study how they affect their behavior and ability to adapt. Their work focuses on understanding how cancer cells adapt to survive treatment, aiming to identify weaknesses that can be exploited with new therapeutic approaches.