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Complex behaviours—new targets against cancer

Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology volume 10, page 79 (2013)Cite this article

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We enjoyed reading the Perspectives article by Funda Meric–Bernstam and Gordon B. Mills (Overcoming implementation challenges of personalized cancer therapy. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 9, 542–548; 2012)1 on the challenges of personalized cancer therapy. In their high-quality paper, the authors focus on the biological and technical challenges that must be surmounted before personalized cancer therapy can be realized. We agree with their viewpoints and appreciate their sharp insights on personalized cancer therapy. We are especially interested in tumour heterogeneity, molecular evolution and resistance in biological challenges. In particular, the fundamental mechanisms that cause tumour heterogeneity must be addressed before any new approach to personalized cancer therapy can be developed.

Tumour heterogeneity is associated with the growth and development of cancer at different stages, which is regulated by a series of complex behaviours that include self-organization, dissipative structures, the biological clock, fractals and chaos. In recent years, complexity theory, which encompasses these behaviours, has increasingly entered fundamental studies of the growth and development of cancer.

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  1. Department of Urology, Daping Hospital/Institute of Surgery Research, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042, China

    Dali Tong & Jun Jiang

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  1. Dali Tong
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  2. Jun Jiang
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Correspondence to Jun Jiang.

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Tong, D., Jiang, J. Complex behaviours—new targets against cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 10, 79 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrclinonc.2012.127-c2

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