Sociobiology meets oncology: unraveling altruistic cooperation in cancer cells and its implications

Abstract

Altruism, an act of benefiting others at a cost to the self, challenges our understanding of evolution. This Perspective delves into the importance of altruism in cancer cells and its implications for therapy. Against the backdrop of existing knowledge on various social organisms found in nature, we explore the mechanisms underlying the manifestation of altruism within breast tumors, revealing a complex interplay of seemingly counteracting cancer signaling pathways and processes that orchestrate the delicate balance between cost and benefit underlying altruistic cooperation. We also discuss how evolutionary game theory, coupled with contemporary molecular tools, may shed light on understudied mechanisms governing the dynamics of altruistic cooperation in cancer cells. Finally, we discuss how molecular insights gleaned from these mechanistic dissections may fuel advancements in our comprehension of altruism among cancer cells, with implications across multiple disciplines, offering innovative prospects for therapeutic strategies, molecular discoveries, and evolutionary investigations.

Fig. 1. Altruism across diverse life forms and types of cancer.

Nature is replete with examples of altruistic cooperation across the tree of life, from viruses to unicellular prokaryotes (Escherichia coli) and eukaryotes (social amoebae) and to multicellular eukaryotes (honeybees, Belding’s ground squirrels, humans). As part of multicellular organisms such as humans, cancer cells do not fit into the traditional tree of life, but they have recently been shown to manifest altruistic behavior through the secretion of trophic factors to induce increased tolerance of the surrounding cancer cells during exposure to the chemotherapeutic agent taxane. (Parts of the figure were generated via ChatGPT 4.).

Fig. 2. Experimental tools that can be used to study social interactions among cancer cells.

Cutting edge technologies such as spatial profiling can be used in conjunction with single-cell omics profiling, ligand–receptor profiling, mathematical modeling via evolutionary game theory and function assays involving coculture to identify and characterize social interactions such as altruistic cooperation in tumor samples and cell lines of various cancer types. (Figure generated via Biorender).

Fig. 3. Implications of cancer cell altruism for the field of oncology.

Implications of cancer cell altruism in oncology. This figure illustrates how understanding altruistic cooperation in cancer cells can lead to potential advancements in the development of innovative therapeutics and diagnostic techniques, alongside the exploration of new avenues in cancer research. (Figure generated via Biorender).