{"title":"Cancer memory as a mechanism to establish malignancy.","authors":"Thomas Lissek","doi":"10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105381","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Cancers during oncogenic progression hold information in epigenetic memory which allows flexible encoding of malignant phenotypes and more rapid reaction to the environment when compared to purely mutation-based clonal evolution mechanisms. Cancer memory describes a proposed mechanism by which complex information such as metastasis phenotypes, therapy resistance and interaction patterns with the tumor environment might be encoded at multiple levels via mechanisms used in memory formation in the brain and immune system (e.g. single-cell epigenetic changes and distributed state modifications in cellular ensembles). Carcinogenesis might hence be the result of physiological multi-level learning mechanisms unleashed by defined heritable oncogenic changes which lead to tumor-specific loss of goal state integration into the whole organism. The formation of cancer memories would create and bind new levels of individuality within the host organism into the entity we call cancer. Translational implications of cancer memory are that cancers could be engaged at higher organizational levels (e.g. be \"trained\" for memory extinction) and that compounds that are known to interfere with memory processes could be investigated for their potential to block cancer memory formation or recall. It also suggests that diagnostic measures should extend beyond sequencing approaches to functional diagnosis of cancer physiology.</p>","PeriodicalId":50730,"journal":{"name":"Biosystems","volume":" ","pages":"105381"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biosystems","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2024.105381","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Cancer memory as a mechanism to establish malignancy.
Cancers during oncogenic progression hold information in epigenetic memory which allows flexible encoding of malignant phenotypes and more rapid reaction to the environment when compared to purely mutation-based clonal evolution mechanisms. Cancer memory describes a proposed mechanism by which complex information such as metastasis phenotypes, therapy resistance and interaction patterns with the tumor environment might be encoded at multiple levels via mechanisms used in memory formation in the brain and immune system (e.g. single-cell epigenetic changes and distributed state modifications in cellular ensembles). Carcinogenesis might hence be the result of physiological multi-level learning mechanisms unleashed by defined heritable oncogenic changes which lead to tumor-specific loss of goal state integration into the whole organism. The formation of cancer memories would create and bind new levels of individuality within the host organism into the entity we call cancer. Translational implications of cancer memory are that cancers could be engaged at higher organizational levels (e.g. be "trained" for memory extinction) and that compounds that are known to interfere with memory processes could be investigated for their potential to block cancer memory formation or recall. It also suggests that diagnostic measures should extend beyond sequencing approaches to functional diagnosis of cancer physiology.
期刊介绍:
BioSystems encourages experimental, computational, and theoretical articles that link biology, evolutionary thinking, and the information processing sciences. The link areas form a circle that encompasses the fundamental nature of biological information processing, computational modeling of complex biological systems, evolutionary models of computation, the application of biological principles to the design of novel computing systems, and the use of biomolecular materials to synthesize artificial systems that capture essential principles of natural biological information processing.