Breast cancer cell migration in the bone microenvironment

We are investigating how material confining a cell affects cell motility and behaviour. In particular we look at how rigidity and geometry play a role by investigating the mechanical response of materials with different rigidities to cell generated forces. We model a cell as a viscous droplet with an active contractile boundary analogous to the actin cortex. We use the immersed boundary method to simulate a cell interacting with deformable elastic walls of various geometries. We look at the specific case of breast cancer metastasis to the bone.

The majority of patients who die from cancer do so not from the primary tumour, but from the metastasis of cancer to other sites in the body. Breast cancer most commonly metastasises to the bone. We are examining how mechanical forces are involved in this process. Bone tissue is very varied in composition and vastly different from breast tissue. In order to model this varied niche we combine analytical calculations and our simulations, with AFM data from our collaborators. This will further our understanding breast cancer metastasis to the bone and it’s motility in the bone microenvironment.