Table 1.
Measures of LH dynamics of a tumor. Here we draw from organismal life history (LH) theory to guide cellular LH parameters of a tumor and provide a list of potential cellular markers
| Organismal LH parameters | Cellular LH parameters | Potential cellular markers |
|---|---|---|
| Somatic maintenance | DNA damage/repair; cell cycle control |
DNA damage assays [5]; survival marker BCL-2 [6]; cell cycle arrest [7] |
| Reproduction | Proliferation | Ki67 [8], mitotic counts |
| Migration | Cell motility | Mesenchymal markers, ECM markers [9, 10] |
| Metabolic Rate | Glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation | Glucose uptake and lactate production [11] |
| Lifespan | Telomere length, telomerase activity | Ratio of telomere length in cancer to non-cancer tissue [12]; TERT levels [13, 14] |
| Extrinsic mortality | Apoptosis | Tunel staining [15], caspase activity [16] |
| Predation | Immune markers | CD8+ T cells [17, 18], M1 macrophages [19] |
| Body mass | Tumor size | CT imaging |
| Population density | Tumor density | CT imaging |
| Environmental resources | Microenvironmental resources | Measure oxygen, glucose; hypoxia factors: HIF-1α, CA IX [20] |
| Resource distribution | Angiogenesis; necrosis | VEGF [21]; CT imaging |
| Somatic mutation rate | Somatic mutation rate | Multi-sample sequencing [22, 23] |
LH life history, ECM extracellular matrix, CT computerized tomography scan