Macroscopic dynamics of cancer growth

MENCHÓN, SILVIA ADRIANA; CONDAT, CARLOS ALBERTO

European Physical Journal - Special Topics

Springer

Año: 2007 vol. 143 p. 89 - 94

1951-6355

Macroscopic modeling is used to describe various aspects of cancergrowth. A recently proposed “dysnamical exponent” hypothesis is criticallyexamined in the context of the angiogenic development. It is also shown thatthe emergence of necroses facilitates the growth of avascular tumors; the modelyields an excellent fit to available experimental data, allowing for the determinationof growth parameters. Finally, the global effects of an applied antitumoralimmunotherapy are investigated. It is shown that, in the long run, the applicationof a therapeutical course leads to bigger tumors by weakening the intraspecificcompetition between surviving viable cancer cells. The strength of this model liesin its simplicity and in the amount of information that can be gleaned using onlyvery general ideas.