Mathematical Modelling of Proteolysis and Cancer Cell Invasion of Tissue

Abstract

The growth of solid tumors proceeds through two distinct phases: the avascular and the vascular phase. It is during the latter stage that the insidious process of cancer invasion of peritumoral tissue can and does take place. Vascular tumors grow rapidly allowing the cancer cells to establish a new colony in distant organs, a process known as metastasis. The metastatic cascade is a multistep process that involves the over-expression of proteolytic enzyme activity such as the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). uPA initiates the activation of an enzymatic cascade that primarily involves the activation of plasminogen and subsequently its matrix degrading protein plasmin. Degradation of the peritumoral tissue enables the cancer cells to migrate through the tissue and subsequently to spread to secondary sites in the body.