Agent-Based Modeling of Cancer Cell Migration in Response to Tumor Microenvironmental Signals
Cancer cells in a tumor mass interact with one another as well as their local tumor microenvironment, particularly the extracellular matrix (ECM) and a host of chemical signaling factors from the tumor, immune cells, and other sources in the microenvironment. Cancer cells exhibit different modes of migration and invasion properties in response to these signals in the tumor microenvironment. The mechanistic details of the networks of interacting processes that influence cancer cell migratory characteristics are still unknown. Our group used the free open-source software CompuCell3D to create a hybrid agent-based model (ABM)/partial differential equations (PDEs) model that mimicked cancer cell migration: (a) in vivo across the ECM during structural remodeling in response to protease signals and (b) in vitro through cell culture platforms in response to chemokine signals. The cancer cells are represented as discrete agents in the ABM, and the ECM components, including collagen fibers and remodeling enzyme(s), chemokines, and other signals, are modeled using a system of PDEs. This presentation will survey examples of agent-based modeling from the Ford Versypt lab and their connections to cancer.