title: Network dynamics in the tumor microenvironment.
abstract: The evolutionary path from tumor initiation to metastasis can only be fully understood by considering cancer cells as part of a multi-species ecosystem within the tumor microenvironment. This paper reviews and suggests two important recent trends. Firstly, I review arguments that interactions among diverse cells in the tumor microenvironment create a distinct cellular environment that can confer growth advantages, resist interventions, and allow tumors to remain dormant for long periods. Second, I review and highlight a trend toward data-rich, molecularly detailed, computational models of the tumor microenvironment. I argue that data-driven molecularly detailed tumor microenvironment models can now be built using data from multiple emerging high-throughput technologies, and that such models can pinpoint mechanisms of dysregulation and suggest specific drug targets and follow up experiments.
authors.affiliation: Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, USA. Electronic address: HBolouri@fhcrc.org.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bolouri
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D049490:Systems Biology; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Big Data; Bioinformatics; Computational biology; Modeling; Network biology; Systems biology; Tumor microenvironment