Tumors are complex cellular and acellular environments within which cancer clones are under continuous selection pressures. Cancer cells are in a permanent mode of interaction and competition with each other as well as with the immediate microenvironment. In the course of these competitive interactions, cells share information regarding their general state of fitness, with less-fit cells being typically eliminated via apoptosis at the hands of those cells with greater cellular fitness. Competitive interactions involving exchange of cell fitness information have implications for tumor growth, metastasis, and therapy outcomes. Recent research has highlighted sophisticated pathways such as Flower, Hippo, Myc, and p53 signaling, which are employed by cancer cells and the surrounding microenvironment cells to achieve their evolutionary goals by means of cell competition mechanisms. In this review, we discuss these recent findings and explain their importance and role in evolution, growth, and treatment of cancer. We further consider potential physiological conditions, such as hypoxia and chemotherapy, that can function as selective pressures under which cell competition mechanisms may evolve differently or synergistically to confer oncogenic advantages to cancer.

中文翻译：

---

肿瘤内和肿瘤微环境相互作用中的细胞竞争

肿瘤是复杂的细胞和非细胞环境，其中癌症克隆处于持续的选择压力下。癌细胞之间以及与直接微环境之间的相互作用和竞争是永久性的。在这些竞争性相互作用的过程中，细胞共享有关其一般适应性状态的信息，而适应性较差的细胞通常通过细胞凋亡在具有更高细胞适应性的细胞手中被消除。涉及交换细胞适应性信息的竞争性相互作用对肿瘤生长、转移和治疗结果有影响。最近的研究强调了复杂的通路，例如 Flower、Hippo、Myc 和 p53 信号传导，它们被癌细胞和周围的微环境细胞利用，通过细胞竞争机制实现其进化目标。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了这些最近的发现，并解释了它们在癌症的进化、生长和治疗中的重要性和作用。我们进一步考虑了潜在的生理条件，例如缺氧和化疗，它们可以作为选择压力发挥作用，在这种压力下，细胞竞争机制可能会以不同的方式或协同发展，从而赋予癌症致癌优势。