Cancer - A Story on Fault Propagation in Gene-Cellular Networks

We discuss problems related to propagation phenomena in biological networks. As an example we consider processes leading to carcinogenesis and development of cancer, seen as a complex genetic disease from a system theoretic point of view. We present particular regulatory mechanisms which make the cell cycle a fault tolerant system. Then we indicate weak points in this system leading to mutagenesis and cancer progression. The next stage in this cascade of events is related to an angiogenic switch, which in turn may be treated as a trigger of metastasis. All these processes result from communication, competition and subordination between normal and cancer cells. We illustrate interaction processes by models based on evolutionary games and spatial evolutionary games, which describe propagation phenomena in time and space.