Towards a quantitative single-cell based model approach to growing multicellular spheroids

Dirk Drasdo and Stefan Höhme

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Submission date: 17. Dec. 2002
Bibtex
MSC-Numbers: 82C22, 82C80, 92C05
PACS-Numbers: 87.18-h, 87.68+z
Keywords and phrases: individual-based off-lattice model, multicellular system, multicellular spheroids

Abstract:
The understanding of the principles and the dominant mechanisms underlying tumor growth is an essential pre-condition in order to optimize treatment strategies. Mathematical and computer-based models can contribute to this since they allow to test competing hypotheses in well-defined caricatures of biological experiments free from unknown or uncontrolled influences. In this paper we focus on the growth of multicellular tumor spheroids in-vitro. This system has been extensively studied experimentally. We present a single-cell based approach that in principle accounts for viscoelastic and growth properties of tumor spheroids and study the model behavior for early tumor stages where limitations of the nutrient and oxygen supply as well as apoptosis can be neglected.