Darwinian Principles in Cancer Therapy

Abstract

© Touch MEdical MEdia 2014 Abstract Our understanding of what components, cellular and extracellular, make up a tumour has greatly expanded over the recent years. This has led to new insight into the underlying mechanisms that mediate treatment failure and has also elucidated potential avenues of novel therapeutic approaches. Applying Darwinian principles to tumour heterogeneity helps to define alternative therapeutic end points, while targeting microenvironmental interactions between mutated tumour cells and their surroundings provide a genetically more stable target. Finally, we discuss the possible role of tumour-associated macrophages in future treatment options.