Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30470829›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Cancer2019

Cooperation among cancer cells: applying game theory to cancer.

Marco Archetti, Kenneth J Pienta

Open access · greenAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Cancer, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
85citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
8.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

85 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 204 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Review
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  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Fraternal cooperation of hierarchical cancer parallels metazoan multicellularity and eusociality.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026
    Review
  10. Cancer, collapse, and the politics of somatic evolution.Evolution, medicine, and public health · 2026
    Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
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  20. Review

25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Marco ArchettiDepartment of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA. mua972@psu.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8303-1632
Kenneth J PientaBrady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4138-2186
Johns Hopkins University · USUniversity of East Anglia · GB

Funding

Tumor microvesicle-mediated modulation of the bone microenvironmentP01CA093900 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · PI KELLER, EVAN T · 2004 to 2024
$29.6M
The Role of Physical Cues in Collective Cell InvasionU54CA210173 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI WIRTZ, DENIS · 2016 to 2020
$9.9M
Multidiciplinary Integrative Genomic Approach to Distinguish Lethal from Indolent Prostate Cancer in Men of Europena and African AncestryU01CA196390 · NCI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI DE MARZO, ANGELO MICHAEL, PIENTA, KENNETH J. · 2015 to 2020
$5.8M
NCI NIH HHS P01 CA093900NCI NIH HHS U01 CA196390NCI NIH HHS U54 CA210173NIH HHS P01-CA093900NIH HHS U01-CA196390NIH HHS U54-CA210173
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Cell cooperation promotes many of the hallmarks of cancer via the secretion of diffusible factors that can affect cancer cells or stromal cells in the tumour microenvironment. This cooperation cannot be explained simply as the collective action of cells for the benefit of the tumour because non-cooperative subclones can constantly invade and free-ride on the diffusible factors produced by the cooperative cells. A full understanding of cooperation among the cells of a tumour requires methods and concepts from evolutionary game theory, which has been used successfully in other areas of biology to understand similar problems but has been underutilized in cancer research. Game theory can provide insights into the stability of cooperation among cells in a tumour and into the design of potentially evolution-proof therapies that disrupt this cooperation.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionGame TheoryHumansNeoplasmsTumor Microenvironment

Identifiers

PMID30470829
PMCPMC8557269
OpenAlexW2900718904

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.