Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Cancer can be seen as an evolutionary disease, where natural selection\nworks on the cells in an organism to promote traits that are detrimental to\nthe organism. Evolutionary game theory (EGT) is a field using the methods\nof game theory, which is usually concerned with the behaviour of rational\nagents, to model adaptive systems. The basis for EGT is that the stable rest\npoints of the adaptive system correspond to stable equilibrium solutions to\nrelated games.\nEGT has been used to model the cellular evolution in cancer with focus\non the interactions between different cancer cells, and between cancer\ncells and normal cells. This thesis is an attempt to model the relationship\nbetween the host and the cancer cells using game theory.\nSimplified systems of differential equations simultaneously describing\nthe cellular evolution within organisms as well as organismal evolution\nare presented, and a correspondence between stable rest points of these\nsystems and stable equilibrium solutions to a class of extensive games are\nshown.\nThe game theoretical models are applied to modified versions of cell-\ncell interaction games from the literature. The results show that it is\nevolutionarily plausible for multicellular organisms to develop tactical\nelements in their anti-cancer strategies.
Author: Knut Dagestad Rand
Language: English
Subfield: Modeling and Simulation
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2464487751