Exploring the role of EMT in Ovarian Cancer Progression: Insights from a multiscale mathematical model

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a key role in the progression of cancer tumours and can make treatment significantly less successful for patients. EMT occurs when a cell gains a different phenotype and possesses different behaviours to those previously exhibited. This may result in enhanced drug resistance, higher cell plasticity, and increased metastatic abilities. It has therefore has become essential to encapsulate this change and study tumour progression and its response to treatments. Here, we use a 3D agent-based multiscale modelling framework based on Physicell to investigate the role of EMT over time in two cell lines, OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3. The impact of conditions in the microenvironment are incorporated into the model by modifying cellular behaviours dependant on variables such as substrate concentrations and proximity to neighbouring cells. OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 cell lines possess highly contrasting tumour layouts, allowing a vast array of different tumour dynamics and morphologies to be tested and studied. The model encapsulates the biological observations and trends seen in tumour growth and development, thus can help to obtain further insights into OVCAR-3 and SKOV-3 cell line dynamics. Sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the impact of parameter sensitivity on model outcome. Sensitivity analysis showed that parameters used in generating the rate of EMT and cycle rates within the cells are relatively more sensitive than other parameters used.