Mathematical Modeling of Cancer Metastases

Most cancer types develop the ability to leave their site of origin and spread to distant organs to form metastases, also called secondary cancers. Metastases are the most common cause of death among cancer patients, and hence there is an immense clinical interest to understand the underlying biological mechanisms and to develop preventive and therapeutic measures. Over the past decades, an increasing number of applied mathematicians and biomedical engineers have taken on the challenge to design models and devise in silico tools for the study of cancer and cancer metastases. The goals of this chapter are to introduce to the reader the important challenges in the field of metastases and to give an overview of the existing modeling tools. Guided by pertinent biological questions, we review a number of deterministic and stochastic approaches and discuss their potential and limitations.

Duke Scholars

Author Marc Daniel Ryser Population Health Sciences