2005/02/01 by Chaitanya A. Athale, Thomas S. Deisboeck, Athale, Chaitanya A. +1
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Medicine · #Cancer Cells and Metastasis #Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #FOS: Biological sciences #Molecular Networks (q-bio.MN) #Other Quantitative Biology (q-bio.OT) #q-bio.CB #q-bio.MN #q-bio.OT
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.q-bio/0502002
arxiv created 2005/02/01 · openalex publication_date 2005/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We studied the effects of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) density on tumor growth dynamics, both on the sub- and the multi-cellular level using our previously developed model. This algorithm simulates the growth of a brain tumor using a multi-scale two-dimensional agent-based approach with an integrated transforming growth factor alpha (TGFalpha) induced EGFR-gene-protein interaction network. The results confirm that increasing cell receptor density correlates with an acceleration of the tumor system's spatio-temporal expansion dynamics. This multicellular behavior cannot be explained solely on the basis of spatial sub-cellular dynamics, which remain qualitatively similar amongst the three glioma cell lines investigated here in silico. Rather, we find that cells with higher EGFR density show an early increase in the phenotypic switching activity between proliferative and migratory traits, linked to a higher level of initial auto-stimulation by the PLCgamma-mediated TGFalpha-EGFR autocrine network. This indicates a more active protein level interaction in these chemotactically acting tumor systems and supports the role of post-translational regulation for the implemented EGFR pathway. Implications of these results for experimental cancer research are discussed.