Are tumor cell lineages solely shaped by mechanical forces?

TL;DR

This study uses an individual based model to explore how mechanical forces influence tumor cell lineage morphology, showing that simple mechanical interactions can explain observed tumor structures.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new IBM that models tumor cell proliferation and morphology based on mechanical interactions and division orientation effects.

Findings

Mechanical interactions can explain tumor morphology.

Division plane orientation impacts cell lineage structure.

Simulation results align with experimental data.

Abstract

This paper investigates cells proliferation dynamics in small tumor cell aggregates using an individual based model (IBM). The simulation model is designed to study the morphology of the cell population and of the cell lineages as well as the impact of the orientation of the division plane on this morphology. Our IBM model is based on the hypothesis that cells are incompressible objects that grow in size and divide once a threshold size is reached, and that newly born cell adhere to the existing cell cluster. We performed comparisons between the simulation model and experimental data by using several statistical indicators. The results suggest that the emergence of particular morphologies can be explained by simple mechanical interactions.