Colorectal cancer as a Model for Biological Evolution

Abstract

Complexity in cancer research has led to the creation of powerful analytical tools for helping experimental in vivo and in vitro methods. These tools range from systems of differential equations resolved in computer simulations, to lattice models and agent-based models (ABMs). These analytical methods are focused on studying cell behavior and dynamic cell populations. Among these, those that are increasingly used are ABMs because they can incorporate multi-scale features ranging from the individual up to the population level, mixing rules based on mathematical and conceptual parameters, and combining statistical/population assumptions with individual heterogeneity. In this work, we present an ABM that simulates tumor progression in a colonic crypt, with the aim of providing an experimental in silico environment for testing results achieved in traditional lab research, and developing alternative scenarios of tumor development. As the first part of an ongoing project, the long-term goal is to reproduce and study, the general evolutionary mechanisms of a biological system.