Cancer treatment innovators discover Charles Darwin

Abstract

With great fanfare, the Institute of Cancer Research announced formation of the ‘world’s first’ Darwinian Cancer Drug Programme within a new Centre for Cancer Discovery [1]. Supported by an initial investment of £75 million, the ICR plans to develop a ‘global center of expertise’ in cancer therapies that integrate evolutionary principles to improve outcomes. A particularly interesting area of investigation is their explicit goal to develop ‘anti-evolutionary’ drugs that seek to reduce the evolutionary speed of cancer cells as they adapt to treatment. This is a welcome and important addition to the growing number of cancer programs investigating the complex eco-evolutionary dynamics that govern drug resistance in clinical cancers.