Cancer reversion, a renewed challenge in systems biology

Abstract Cancer is a complex disease for which conventional therapeutic approaches often encounter a fundamental limitation. As an alternative approach, there is a renewed challenge in systems biology for cancer reversion by converting cancer cells into normal cells. Historically, such reversion has been observed sporadically, but no systems analysis has been attempted so far. We review the phenomenal observations of cancer reversion in history and introduce two relevant systems biological approaches based on molecular network modeling. We further introduce the recent development of network control strategies that can be used to identify useful molecular targets for cancer reversion and then discuss future challenges in systems biology.