Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Aug 19;146(4):633-44.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2011.07.026.

Stochastic state transitions give rise to phenotypic equilibrium in populations of cancer cells

Piyush B Gupta  1 , Christine M Fillmore, Guozhi Jiang, Sagi D Shapira, Kai Tao, Charlotte Kuperwasser, Eric S Lander
Affiliations
Free article

Stochastic state transitions give rise to phenotypic equilibrium in populations of cancer cells

Piyush B Gupta et al. Cell. .
Free article

Erratum in

  • Cell. 2011 Nov 23;147(5):1197
  • Cell. 2011 Sep 16;146(6):1042

Abstract

Cancer cells within individual tumors often exist in distinct phenotypic states that differ in functional attributes. While cancer cell populations typically display distinctive equilibria in the proportion of cells in various states, the mechanisms by which this occurs are poorly understood. Here, we study the dynamics of phenotypic proportions in human breast cancer cell lines. We show that subpopulations of cells purified for a given phenotypic state return towards equilibrium proportions over time. These observations can be explained by a Markov model in which cells transition stochastically between states. A prediction of this model is that, given certain conditions, any subpopulation of cells will return to equilibrium phenotypic proportions over time. A second prediction is that breast cancer stem-like cells arise de novo from non-stem-like cells. These findings contribute to our understanding of cancer heterogeneity and reveal how stochasticity in single-cell behaviors promotes phenotypic equilibrium in populations of cancer cells.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

  • That's the theory.
    McCarthy N. McCarthy N. Nat Rev Cancer. 2011 Sep 8;11(10):691. doi: 10.1038/nrc3140. Nat Rev Cancer. 2011. PMID: 21900955 No abstract available.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources