Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8876568 | Journal of Theoretical Biology | 2018 | 28 Pages |
Abstract
Much research has focused on the deleterious effects of free-riding in public goods games, and a variety of mechanisms that suppress cheating behavior. Here we argue that under certain conditions cheating can be beneficial to the population. In a public goods game, cheaters do not pay for the cost of the public goods, yet they receive the benefit. Although this free-riding harms the entire population in the long run, the success of cheaters may aid the population when there is a common enemy that antagonizes both cooperators and cheaters. Here we study models of the interactions between tumor cells, which play a public goods game, and the immune system. We investigate three population dynamics models of cancer growth combined with a model of effector cell dynamics. We show that under a public good with a limiting benefit, the presence of cheaters aids the tumor in overcoming immune system suppression, and explore the parameter space wherein it occurs. The mechanism of this phenomenon is that a polymorphism of cheaters and altruists optimizes the average growth rate of the tumor, which is what determines whether or not the immune response is overcome. Our results give support for a possible synergy between cooperators and cheaters in ecological public goods games.
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Life Sciences
Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (General)
Authors
Bryce Morsky, Dervis Can Vural,