2008/07/31 by Evgeniy Khain, Casey M. Schneider-Mizell, Casey M Schneider-Mizell +5
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Mathematics · Medicine · #Cancer Cells and Metastasis #Cellular Mechanics and Interactions #Mathematical Biology Tumor Growth #q-bio.CB
paper · pdf · doi:10.1209/0295-5075/88/28006
published as EPL (Europhysics Letters) 88, 28006 (2009) · 6 pages, 6 figures
openalex publication_date 2009/10/01 · arxiv created 2009/11/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We investigate clustering of malignant glioma cells. In vitro experiments in collagen gels identified a cell line that formed clusters in a region of low cell density, whereas a very similar cell line (which lacks an important mutation) did not cluster significantly. We hypothesize that the mutation affects the strength of cell-cell adhesion. We investigate this effect in a new experiment, which follows the clustering dynamics of glioma cells on a surface. We interpret our results in terms of a stochastic model and identify two mechanisms of clustering. First, there is a critical value of the strength of adhesion; above the threshold, large clusters grow from a homogeneous suspension of cells; below it, the system remains homogeneous, similarly to the ordinary phase separation. Second, when cells form a cluster, we have evidence that they increase their proliferation rate. We have successfully reproduced the experimental findings and found that both mechanisms are crucial for cluster formation and growth.