Inhibition of Vascularization in Tumor Growth

The transition to a vascular phase is a prerequisite for fast tumor growth. During the avascular phase, the neoplasm feeds only from the (relatively few) existing nearby blood vessels. During angiogenesis, the number of capillaries surrounding and infiltrating the tumor increases dramatically. A model which includes physical and biological mechanisms of the interactions between the tumor and vascular growth describes the avascular-vascular transition. Numerical results agree with clinical observations and predict the influence of therapies aiming to inhibit the transition.

Figure 1

Snapshots of the cancer cell and vessel concentrations during angiogenesis. Note that the ECs separation from the original vessels is apparent due to the gray scale adopted.

Figure 2

(a) Final volume of the neoplasm after $T=25000$ time steps for different values of $\zeta$. (b) shows experimental data [Fig. 5b taken from Ref. 5]. Drug doses are expressed in $\mu \mathrm{g}$ per application.

Figure 3

Temporal evolution of the number of endothelial and cancer cells with and without angiogenesis and under two therapeutic protocols based on endostatin. In the inset of the upper plot, the arrows mark the times of drug administration.