MODELING OF CIRCULATING CANCER CELLS SUBJECTED TO ARTERIAL FLOW CONDITIONS

Abstract

While much is known about Cancer, a deeper understanding of cancer’s underlying mechanisms can allow for better predictions, studies, and treatments to combat this pervasive disease. Metastatic cancer is responsible for over 90% of cancer-related deaths, with circulating tumor cells (CTCs) playing a critical role in secondary tumor formation. Various in vivo, in vitro, and in sillico metastasis and CTC models have been previously presented, but in this work, in sillico models implemented within the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation package LAMMPS are investigated for their applicability in modeling CTCs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the applicability of different numerical approaches to the adhesion kinetics and mechanical properties of CTC adhesion to endothelial wall under blood flow conditions, as prior publications within this area are limited. Ultimately, this thesis establishes the feasibility and relevance of numerical based approaches, such as Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH), Lattice-Boltzmann (LBM), and MD, in modeling the stochastic, multiscale nature of cancer cell adhesion. The developed framework provides a foundation for future investigation and full integration of CTC adhesion kinetics, CTC cluster modeling, subcellular structure modeling, and experimental validation via microfluidic systems, thereby contributing to the growing utility of in silico tools in cancer metastasis research.