title: Multiscale cancer modeling.
abstract: Simulating cancer behavior across multiple biological scales in space and time, i.e., multiscale cancer modeling, is increasingly being recognized as a powerful tool to refine hypotheses, focus experiments, and enable more accurate predictions. A growing number of examples illustrate the value of this approach in providing quantitative insights in the initiation, progression, and treatment of cancer. In this review, we introduce the most recent and important multiscale cancer modeling works that have successfully established a mechanistic link between different biological scales. Biophysical, biochemical, and biomechanical factors are considered in these models. We also discuss innovative, cutting-edge modeling methods that are moving predictive multiscale cancer modeling toward clinical application. Furthermore, because the development of multiscale cancer models requires a new level of collaboration among scientists from a variety of fields such as biology, medicine, physics, mathematics, engineering, and computer science, an innovative Web-based infrastructure is needed to support this growing community.
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT (HST) Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129.
authors.forename: Thomas S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Deisboeck
authors.affiliation: Harvard-MIT (HST) Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Division of Mathematics, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Macklin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131.|Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131].
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cristini
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019295:Computational Biology; D003198:Computer Simulation; D018450:Disease Progression; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000473:pathology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic; D057285:Precision Medicine / Q000639:trends; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: C512478:EGFR protein, human; D066246:ErbB Receptors