Haptotaxis in Tumour Growth and Invasion

In this work, a number of mathematical models ofhaptotactic cell migration are developed. Thesemodels of haptotaxis are presented in two distinctparts - the first comprises an investigation ofhaptotaxis in pre-necrotic avascular tumours, whilethe second consists of the modelling ofadhesion-mediated haptotactic cell migration withintissue, with particular attention paid to thebiological appropriateness of the description ofcell-extracellular matrix adhesion. A model isdeveloped that describes the effects of passive andactive haptotactic migration on the cellular dynamicsand growth of pre-necrotic avascular tumours. Thismodel is also extended to describe theinternalisation of labelled cells and inertmicrospheres within multicell tumour spheroids. Alsopresented is a novel model of adhesion-receptormediated haptotactic cell migration. Specificapplications of the model to tumour invasionprocesses are then discussed. This model includes amore biologically realistic description of celladhesion than has been considered in previous modelsof cell population haptotaxis.

Autorentext

Daniel (Dann) Mallet is a Lecturer in Applicable Mathematics at the School of Mathematical Sciences at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. His main research interests are in mathematical modelling of biological cells and associated phenomena such as migration, growth and infectious diseases.

Klappentext
In this work, a number of mathematical models of haptotactic cell migration are developed. These models of haptotaxis are presented in two distinct parts - the first comprises an investigation of haptotaxis in pre-necrotic avascular tumours, while the second consists of the modelling of adhesion-mediated haptotactic cell migration within tissue, with particular attention paid to the biological appropriateness of the description of cell-extracellular matrix adhesion. A model is developed that describes the effects of passive and active haptotactic migration on the cellular dynamics and growth of pre-necrotic avascular tumours. This model is also extended to describe the internalisation of labelled cells and inert microspheres within multicell tumour spheroids. Also presented is a novel model of adhesion-receptor mediated haptotactic cell migration. Specific applications of the model to tumour invasion processes are then discussed. This model includes a more biologically realistic description of cell adhesion than has been considered in previous models of cell population haptotaxis.