title: Computational modeling of 3D tumor growth and angiogenesis for chemotherapy evaluation.
abstract: Solid tumors develop abnormally at spatial and temporal scales, giving rise to biophysical barriers that impact anti-tumor chemotherapy. This may increase the expenditure and time for conventional drug pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies. In order to facilitate drug discovery, we propose a mathematical model that couples three-dimensional tumor growth and angiogenesis to simulate tumor progression for chemotherapy evaluation. This application-oriented model incorporates complex dynamical processes including cell- and vascular-mediated interstitial pressure, mass transport, angiogenesis, cell proliferation, and vessel maturation to model tumor progression through multiple stages including tumor initiation, avascular growth, and transition from avascular to vascular growth. Compared to pure mechanistic models, the proposed empirical methods are not only easy to conduct but can provide realistic predictions and calculations. A series of computational simulations were conducted to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed comprehensive model. The computational simulation results suggest that solid tumor geometry is related to the interstitial pressure, such that tumors with high interstitial pressure are more likely to develop dendritic structures than those with low interstitial pressure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Imaging, The Methodist Hospital Research Institute, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
authors.forename: Anne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: van de Ven
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Dongmin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Vivi
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Andasari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Cancer Research and Treatment Center, Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, and Center for Biomedical Engineering, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cristini
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: King C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000188:drug therapy; D047368:Tumor Burden
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents