ArticlePLoS computational biology2022
Autocrine signaling can explain the emergence of Allee effects in cancer cell populations.
Article in PLoS computational biology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Enhancing generalizability of model discovery across parameter space with multi-experiment equation learning for biological systems.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Simulating Cancer Recurrence Patterns From Post-Treatment Viable Tumor Burden Distributions.JCO clinical cancer informatics · 2026Article
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- Full spatio-temporal analyses of migration and colonization in evolution-dense 3D mapping of cancer metastases provides new insights.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- The role of environmentally mediated drug resistance in facilitating the spatial distribution of residual disease.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Deformations of acid-mediated invasive tumors in a model with Allee effect.Journal of mathematical biology · 2025Article
- A Mathematical Perspective on the Influence of Allee Effects in Oncolytic Virotherapy.Mathematics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Defining preclinical efficacy with the DNAPK inhibitor AZD7648 in combination with olaparib: a minimal systems pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model.Journal of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics · 2025Article
- MAPK14/p38α shapes the molecular landscape of endometrial cancer and promotes tumorigenic characteristics.Cell reports · 2025Article
- Evolutionary rescue model informs strategies for driving cancer cell populations to extinction.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Integration of Immune Cell-Target Cell Conjugate Dynamics Changes the Time Scale of Immune Control of Cancer.Bulletin of mathematical biology · 2025Article
- Advancing cancer drug development with mechanistic mathematical modeling: bridging the gap between theory and practice.Journal of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics · 2024Review
- Spatial cumulant models enable spatially informed treatment strategies and analysis of local interactions in cancer systems.Journal of mathematical biology · 2023Article
- Fast and precise inference on diffusivity in interacting particle systems.Journal of mathematical biology · 2023Article
- Mathematical modeling of radiotherapy: impact of model selection on estimating minimum radiation dose for tumor control.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- Chromosomal Instability, Selection and Competition: Factors That Shape the Level of Karyotype Intra-Tumor Heterogeneity.Cancers · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In many human cancers, the rate of cell growth depends crucially on the size of the tumor cell population. Low, zero, or negative growth at low population densities is known as the Allee effect; this effect has been studied extensively in ecology, but so far lacks a good explanation in the cancer setting. Here, we formulate and analyze an individual-based model of cancer, in which cell division rates are increased by the local concentration of an autocrine growth factor produced by the cancer cells themselves. We show, analytically and by simulation, that autocrine signaling suffices to cause both strong and weak Allee effects. Whether low cell densities lead to negative (strong effect) or reduced (weak effect) growth rate depends directly on the ratio of cell death to proliferation, and indirectly on cellular dispersal. Our model is consistent with experimental observations from three patient-derived brain tumor cell lines grown at different densities. We propose that further studying and quantifying population-wide feedback, impacting cell growth, will be central for advancing our understanding of cancer dynamics and treatment, potentially exploiting Allee effects for therapy.
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