Department of Biomedical Engineering, Binghamton University, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Binghamton University, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.
J Theor Biol. 2019 Nov 7;480:229-240. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2019.08.012. Epub 2019 Aug 17.
Endothelial to mesenchymal transformation (EndMT) is a process in which endothelial cells gain a mesenchymal-like phenotype in response to mechanobiological signals that results in the remodeling or repair of underlying tissue. While initially associated with embryonic development, this process has since been shown to occur in adult tissue remodeling including wound healing, fibrosis, and cancer. In an attempt to understand the role of EndMT in cancer progression and metastasis, we present a multiscale, three-dimensional, in silico model. The model couples tissue level phenomena such as extracellular matrix remodeling, cellular level phenomena such as migration and proliferation, and chemical transport in the tumor microenvironment to mimic in vitro tissue models of the cancer microenvironment. The model is used to study the presence of EndMT-derived activated fibroblasts (EDAFs) and varying substrate stiffness on tumor cell migration and proliferation. The simulations accurately model the behavior of tumor cells under given conditions. The presence of EDAFs and/or an increase in substrate stiffness resulted in an increase in tumor cell activity. This model lays the foundation of further studies of EDAFs in a tumor microenvironment on a cellular and subcellular physiological level.
内皮到间质转化(EndMT)是一种内皮细胞在机械生物信号的作用下获得间充质样表型的过程,导致基底组织的重塑或修复。虽然最初与胚胎发育有关,但此后已证明该过程发生在包括伤口愈合、纤维化和癌症在内的成人组织重塑中。为了了解 EndMT 在癌症进展和转移中的作用,我们提出了一个多尺度、三维、计算机模拟模型。该模型结合了组织水平的现象,如细胞外基质重塑,细胞水平的现象,如迁移和增殖,以及肿瘤微环境中的化学物质运输,以模拟癌症微环境的体外组织模型。该模型用于研究 EndMT 衍生的激活成纤维细胞(EDAFs)和不同基质刚度对肿瘤细胞迁移和增殖的影响。模拟准确地模拟了在给定条件下肿瘤细胞的行为。存在 EDAFs 和/或基质刚度增加会导致肿瘤细胞活性增加。该模型为进一步在细胞和亚细胞生理水平上研究肿瘤微环境中的 EDAFs 奠定了基础。
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