ABSTRACT
In its early growth phase, a malignant tumor often exhibits rapid growth due primarily to a high proliferation rate. Although this may not be true for all cancers, rapid proliferation must be fueled by abundant resources. As the tumor expands, it is widely thought that competition for resources tends to increase, because more cells compete for fewer resources as tumor vasculature becomes increasingly deranged. As a result, tumor growth rate tends to decrease as the tumor ages and key resources become limiting. This limitation also provides the impetus for a long lasting and intensive evolutionary process that enables cancer cells to eventually resist almost any known treatments. This chapter presents several case studies where the rigorously tested cell quota based Droop model and the ideas from the growing field of ecological stoichiometry are successfully applied to model cancer growth and treatments. Ecological stoichiometry is the study of the balance of energy and multiple chemical resources (elements) in ecological interactions.
