  The construction of a network of cell-to-cell contacts makes it possible to
characterize the patterns and spatial organisation of tissues. Such networks
are highly dynamic, depending on the changes of the tissue architecture caused
by cell division, death and migration. Local competitive and cooperative
cell-to-cell interactions influence the choices cells make. We review the
literature on quantitative data of epithelial tissue topology and present a
dynamical network model that can be used to explore the evolutionary dynamics
of a two dimensional tissue architecture with arbitrary cell-to-cell
interactions. In particular, we show that various forms of experimentally
observed types of interactions can be modelled using game theory. We discuss a
model of cooperative and non-cooperative cell-to-cell communication that can
capture the interplay between cellular competition and tissue dynamics. We
conclude with an outlook on the possible uses of this approach in modelling
tumorigenesis and tissue homeostasis.
