On the mathematical modelling of tumor-induced angiogenesis Articles uri icon

publication date

  • February 2017

start page

  • 45

end page

  • 66

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 14

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1547-1063

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1551-0018

abstract

  • An angiogenic system is taken as an example of extremely complex ones in the field of Life Sciences, from both analytical and computational points of view, due to the strong coupling between the kinetic parameters of the relevant branching-growth-anastomosis stochastic processes of the capillary network, at the microscale, and the family of interacting underlying biochemical fields, at the macroscale. To reduce this complexity, for a conceptual stochastic model we have explored how to take advantage of the system intrinsic multiscale structure: one might describe the stochastic dynamics of the cells at the vessel tip at their natural microscale, whereas the dynamics of the underlying fields is given by a deterministic mean field approximation obtained by an averaging at a suitable mesoscale. But the outcomes of relevant numerical simulations show that the proposed model, in presence of anastomosis, is not self-averaging, so that the "propagation of chaos" assumption cannot be applied to obtain a deterministic mean field approximation. On the other hand we have shown that ensemble averages over many realizations of the stochastic system may better correspond to a deterministic reaction-diffusion system.

subjects

  • Chemistry
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Materials science and engineering
  • Mathematics
  • Physics

keywords

  • angiogenesis; stochastic differential equations; birth and death processes; growth processes; mean field approximation; hybrid models; propagation of chaos; ensemble average; random closed-sets; endothelial-cells; populations; mechanisms; densities; cornea; life