Cancer Attractor - a systemic view of cancer by EBV models
by
Qin Li(Karolinska Institute)
→
Europe/Stockholm
122:026
122:026
Description
‘The Cancer Cell Attractor Theory’ is a relatively new but more and more popular concept in cancer research. The idea of ‘cancer attractor’ was firstly suggested by Stuart Kauffman, viewing each cell type as an ‘attractor’, and integrating the original concept of epigenetic landscape given by Waddington in 1940s.
In our work, we use EBV latency I cell line (Burkitt lymphoma cell lines) and EBV latency III cell lines (EBV transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL)), which are closely related but phenotypically different. We are now focusing on the cells at the edge of the latency I ‘basin of attraction’ according to protein markers. We explore if small populations of “outliers” can switch to adopt to the latency III phenotype (another basin of attraction) or if they will return to and reestablish the original parental distribution. The tool we use is multi-marker FACS.
We have established a mathematical model to study the dynamics of this re-establishment, from which we can deduce that this population redistribution is driven by both a deterministic force and a stochastic force.
