Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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SYBN: Biological and Social Networks

SYBN 3: Biologische und Soziale Netzwerke, Postersitzung

SYBN 3.23: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2005, 14:00–15:30, Poster TU E

Morphology transformation of blood vessel networks during tumor-induced neo-vascularization — •Heiko Rieger¹ and Katalin Bartha² — ¹Theoretische Physik, Universität des Saarlandes, 66041 Saarbrücken, Germany — ²Department of medical Biochemistry, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

During tumor growth the surrounding regular vascular network in normal tissue is transformed into a highly tumor specific capillary network with a characteristic morphology. In human melanoma for instance one observes the compartmentalization of the tumor/vasculature system into a highly vascularized peritumoral region, the tumor periphery with high vessel density and increased vessel diameter, and the tumor center with large necrotic regions, low vessel density and very thick vessels. We introduce a microscopic model incorporating tumor growth, vessel cooption, neo-vascularization, vessel collapse and cell death. We show that the plastic deformation of the network into the observed morphology depends crucially on the local response of the vessels on the global blood flow pattern determined by the current vessel network topology. Vessel density and vessel directions reflect for a broad range of parameters the characteristic features of human melanoma. It is predicted that microvascular density at or inside the tumor, regarded as an important diagnostic tool in cancer treatment, does not necessarily determine the tempo of tumor progression.