An Agent-Based Model of Avascular Tumor Growth

The growth and development of a typical avascular tumor is modeled by means of an Agent-Based Model (ABM). The formalization incorporates cell movement rates, as well as replication and transformation of tumor cells into different phenotypes (“active”, “quiescent” and “necrotic”), according to the cell internal energy levels. The model is able to qualitatively replicate tumor development characterized by a large core of dead cells within the interior of a cancerous mass (where the distance from blood vessels prevents essential nutrients and oxygen from reaching the cells by diffusion), surrounded by “quiescent” and “active” (proliferative) cells. The interaction of tumor and immune system cells (consisting of generic leukocytes in this version of the model) has been also considered. Different scenarios are explored, to showcase possibly differenc mechanisms of cancer growth pathophysiology.