Redundancy: A Critical Obstacle to Improving Cancer Therapy
Cet article analyse les défis posés par la redondance et la dynamique des systèmes biologiques pour améliorer l'efficacité des traitements anticancéreux
A system characterized by redundancy has various elements that are able to act in the same biological or dynamic manner, where the inhibition of one of those elements has no significant effect on the global biological outcome or on the system's dynamic behavior. Methods that aim to predict the effectiveness of cancer therapies must include evolutionary and dynamic features that would change the static view that is widely accepted. Here, we explore several important issues about mechanisms of redundancy, heterogeneity, biological importance and drug resistance and describe methodological challenges that, if overcome, would significantly contribute to cancer research.