Aguadé Gorgorió, Guim, 1991-Anderson, Alexander R. A.Solé Vicente, Ricard, 1962-2025-04-032025-04-032024Aguadé-Gorgorió G, Anderson ARA, Solé R. Modeling tumors as complex ecosystems. iScience. 2024 Aug 10;27(9):110699. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.1106992589-0042http://hdl.handle.net/10230/70082Many cancers resist therapeutic intervention. This is fundamentally related to intratumor heterogeneity: multiple cell populations, each with different phenotypic signatures, coexist within a tumor and its metastases. Like species in an ecosystem, cancer populations are intertwined in a complex network of ecological interactions. Most mathematical models of tumor ecology, however, cannot account for such phenotypic diversity or predict its consequences. Here, we propose that the generalized Lotka-Volterra model (GLV), a standard tool to describe species-rich ecological communities, provides a suitable framework to model the ecology of heterogeneous tumors. We develop a GLV model of tumor growth and discuss how its emerging properties provide a new understanding of the disease. We discuss potential extensions of the model and their application to phenotypic plasticity, cancer-immune interactions, and metastatic growth. Our work outlines a set of questions and a road map for further research in cancer ecology.application/pdfeng© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.110699CancerCancer systems biologyEcologyMathematical biosciencesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess