A complex dynamic model for cancer growth and metastasis

Unregulated cancer cell proliferation requires nutrients such as glucose and iron. Iron is a requisite cofactor for activating ribonucleotide reductase, an enzyme that converts ribonucleotide triphosphates into dNTPs and thus, constitutes a vital component in DNA synthesis. The demonstration that cancer cells arrest and become apoptotic in the absence of iron has made this nutrient an attractive chemotherapeutic candidate. Herein, we elaborate a non-linear, dynamic, mathematical model for cancer growth, which involves iron requirements of cells. The model emulates malignant tumour growth (including cancer cell diffusion and apoptosis), allowing for movement in all directions in two-dimensional space according to rule-based mathematical algorithms. To visualize the model, we developed a computer graphic simulation program and used it to demonstrate, by varying parameter values, how such models can be used to aid therapy development. We compared results obtained using our mathematically-determined decision -making criteria with those obtained previously using similar models but with algorithms based on pseudorandom number generators.