A mathematical model of tumor growth has been developed
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
The mathematical model, which predicts how the tumor will develop, can help in the development of treatment taking into account individual types of cancer.
Some tumors stop growing when they reach a certain size, while others continue to grow. They do this using the network of blood vessels that feed them, which causes the tumor to become more and more extensive. Also, the tumor can grow cancer cells in other organs of the body, which is called metastases. Finding a way to predict which tumors will be at rest and which ones will spread is one of the most important goals of cancer research, and more often physicists and mathematicians take part in it.
Among them, the physicist Sihui Tsoy from Heidelberg University in Germany, who together with colleagues, developed a mathematical model of how the tumor will develop. Scientists analyzed detailed images of tumors taken from cancer-infected mice and blood vessels feeding them at different stages of development. The results were transformed into equations describing the complex interaction between healthy cells, cancer cells and surrounding blood vessels.
As a result, the model that predicts "variants of probabilistic tumor growth," says Choi, uses the distribution of blood vessels around the tumor. "When applied to mice in studies, in all cases the model predicted how the cancer will progress." This can be compared to the fast forward button ", says the scientist (Scientific Reports, DOI: 10.1038 / srep00031) .The model should help determine which of the blood vessels will contribute to development so that we can limit the growth of the tumor.
"In the future, threats will no longer be based on populations, people will receive individual treatment based on predictions of our model," said co-author Neil Johnson, a physicist at the University of Miami in Florida.
Klaus Jorgensen of the Institute for Cancer Research in London, says that such models will be very important in future cancer treatments, but adds that the model simplifies only some aspects of tumor growth.
[