Survival of the Fittest: Essential Roles of Cell Competition in Development, Aging, and Cancer.

Merino MM; Levayer R; Moreno E

doi:10.1016/j.tcb.2016.05.009

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Journal article

Survival of the Fittest: Essential Roles of Cell Competition in Development, Aging, and Cancer.

Merino MM Institute for Cell Biology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Department of Biochemistry, University of Geneva, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
Levayer R Institute for Cell Biology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
Moreno E Institute for Cell Biology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 4, 3012 Bern, Switzerland; Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, 1400-038, Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: eduardo.moreno@izb.unibe.ch.

2016-06-21

Published in:

Trends in cell biology. - 2016

English Multicellular organisms evolved to resolve conflicts between individual cells, protecting the internal organization of the individual. This is illustrated by cell competition, a process that eliminates suboptimal cells from growing tissues by apoptosis. Since its early characterization in Drosophila an increasing number of conditions have been associated with competition, and mounting evidence demonstrates conservation of this process. We describe here the broad range of contexts that utilize cell competition, including tissue health, aging, and tumor development. We then delineate different models for the processes underlying the recognition and elimination of outcompeted cells.

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