Novel Multiscale Computational Modelling and Analysis for Cancer Invasion: Exploring the Role of Matrix-Degrading Enzymes in Tumour Progression (Keynote Speaker Talk)

Most processes in biology and medicine occur over different but inter- connected spatial and temporal scales - from genes to cells to tissues to organs to populations. Known as one of the “hallmarks of cancer”, cancer invasion is a complex “multi-scale” phenomenon involving many inter-related genetic, biochemical, and cellular processes at many different spatial and temporal scales that play a crucial role in the overall cancer development. The process of invasion consists of cancer cells secreting various matrix-degrading enzymes, which degrade the surrounding tissue or the extracellular matrix. Combining abnormal proliferation with favourable migratory conditions enabled by altered cell adhesion characteristics, the cancer cells actively spread locally into the surrounding tissue. As these multiscale phenomena lead naturally to a question concerning the establishment of a fundamental framework that would enable a rigorous analysis and modelling of cancer invasion, in this talk we will first present a novel multiscale modelling framework involving two scales - cell and tissue. This will be accompanied by a multiscale analysis framework, which is based on our new concept of “three- scale convergence”. Finally, we will present computational simulations of our multiscale moving boundary model and discuss a number of important fundamental properties that follows.