Cancer
Cancer is a term describing hundreds of different kinds of pathology affecting the mammalian cell cycle leading to proliferation and invasion of diseased cells in the body. It is a dynamic process mediated by a highly complex network of signalling, transcription and biochemical pathways that become unstable due to defects in relatively few sites. These combinations of defects permit the cell cycle to overcome the normal corrective measures employed by cells to fix errors. It is becoming clear that new drugs will have to be designed that target multiple points in the network and the resulting complexity is overwhelming.
Schematic of the cell network used to model cancer in human cells
We have developed a methodology for modelling the key pathways implicated in a number of important cancers. The model exploits optimisation approaches developed to study complex ecological networks. It is sufficiently complex that it includes 100s of the proteins that are potential drug targets and places these in their proper context in the cell network.
Uniquely, we can use both qualitative and quantitative data in the model to develop predictions for successful drug interventions, or to seek sets of biomarkers that characterise individual cancers and tailor appropriate treatments. We are currently developing the approach to study breast cancer in collaboration with colleagues at Edinburgh University.