Critical junction: Nonlinear dynamics, swarm intelligence and cancer research

Complex biological systems manifest a large variety of emergent phenomena among which prominent roles belong to self-organization and swarm intelligence. Despite astoundingly wide repertoire of observed forms, there are comparatively simple rules governing evolution of large systems towards self-organization, in general, and towards swarm intelligence, in particular. In this work, an attempt is made to outline general guiding principles in exploration of a wide range of seemingly dissimilar phenomena observed in large communities of individuals devoid of any personal intelligence and interacting with each other through simple stimulus-response rules. Mathematically, these guiding principles are well captured by the Global Consensus Theorem (GCT) allowing for unified approach to such diverse systems as biological networks, communities of social insects, robotic communities, microbial communities, communities of somatic cells, to social networks, and to many other systems. The GCT provides a conceptual basis for understanding the emergent phenomena of self-organization occurring in large communities without involvement of a supervisory authority, without system-wide informational infrastructure, and without mapping of general plan of action onto cognitive/behavioral faculties of its individual members. Cancer onset and proliferation serves as an important example of application of these conceptual approaches. A growing body of evidence confirms the premise that disruption of quorum sensing, an important aspect of swarm intelligence, plays a key role in carcinogenesis. Other aspects of swarm intelligence, such as collective memory, adaptivity (a form of learning from experience) and ability for self-repair are the key for understanding biological robustness and acquired chemoresistance. Yet another aspects of swarm intelligence, such as division of labor and competitive differentiation, may be helpful in understanding of cancer compartmentalization and tumor heterogen- ity.