Modeling the Role of Hypoxia in Glioblastoma Growth and Recurrence Patterns

Abstract

A typical feature of glioblastoma (GBM) growth is local recurrence after surgery. However, some GBMs recur distally. It has been noted that GBM patients with perioperative ischemia are more likely to have distal recurrence and that GBM cells migrate faster under hypoxic conditions. We apply the Proliferation Invasion Hypoxia Necrosis Angiogenesis (PIHNA) model to examine the effect of faster hypoxic cell migration on simulated GBM growth. Results suggest that a highly migratory hypoxic cell population drives the growth of the whole tumor and leads to distant recurrence, as do higher normoxic tumor cell migration and low cellular proliferation rates.