Metastasis is the process by which cancer cells acquire the capability to leave the primary tumor and travel to distant sites. Recent experiments have suggested that the epithelial-mesenchymal transition can regulate invasion and metastasis. Another possible scenario is the collective motion of cells. Recent studies have also proposed a jamming-unjamming transition for epithelial cells based on physical forces. Here, we assume that there exists a short-range chemical attraction between cancer cells and employ the Brownian dynamics to simulate tumor growth. Applying the network analysis, we suggest three possible phases for a given tumor and study the transition between these phases by adjusting the attraction strength.
Keywords: Brownian dynamics (BD); interacting cells; metastasis; network analysis; phase transition; tumor growth.
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