Physics-based tissue simulator to model multicellular systems: A study of liver regeneration and hepatocellular carcinoma recurrence

LUCIANA M. LUQUE; C. MANUEL CARLEVARO; CAMILO J. LLAMOZA TORRES; ENRIQUE LOMBA

PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2023 vol. 19 p. 1 - 28

1553-734X

We present a multiagent-based model that captures the interactionsbetween different types of cells with their microenvironment, and enablesthe analysis of the emergent global behavior during tissue regeneration andtumor development. Using this model, we are able to reproduce thetemporal dynamics of regular healthy cells and cancer cells, as well as theevolution of their three-dimensional spatial distributions. By tuning thesystem with the characteristics of the individual patients, our modelreproduces a variety of spatial patterns of tissue regeneration and tumorgrowth, resembling those found in clinical imaging or biopsies. In order tocalibrate and validate our model we study the process of liver regenerationafter surgical hepatectomy in different degrees. In the clinical context, ourmodel is able to predict the recurrence of a hepatocellular carcinoma aftera 70% partial hepatectomy. The outcomes of our simulations are inagreement with experimental and clinical observations. By fitting themodel parameters to specific patient factors, it might well become a usefulplatform for hypotheses testing in treatments protocols.