Analysis of a chemotaxis-convection model of capillary-sprout growth during tumor angiogenesis (Q2326008)

The authors study the chemotaxis-convection model \[\begin{cases} u_t = d_1 u_{xx} - (uv_x)_x + (uw_x)_x, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ v_t = d_2 v_{xx} + (vw_x)_x + ku -\mu v, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ w_t = d_3 w_{xx} + ru - \delta w, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \end{cases} \] endowed with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions and nonnegative initial conditions \(u_0, v_0, w_0 \in W^{1,\infty} (\Omega)\) with \(u_0 \not \equiv 0\), where \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}\) is a bounded open interval and all the constants are positive. The model was proposed in [\textit{M. E. Orme} and \textit{M. A. J. Chaplain}, IMA J. Math. Appl. Med. Biol. 13, No. 2, 73--98 (1996; Zbl 0849.92009)] as a model for the branching of capillary sprout in tumor angiogenesis, where \(u\), \(v\), and \(w\) are the respective densities of the endothelial cells, the adhesive sites, and the matrix secreted by the endothelial cells. The authors now prove the existence of a unique global classical solution such that all solution components are strictly positive in \(\overline{\Omega} \times (0,\infty)\) and bounded in \(L^\infty ((0,\infty); W^{1,2}(\Omega))\). The proof mainly relies on a series of a priori estimates which are combined appropriately in order to ensure the claimed boundedness. In particular, the evolution of a functional, consisting of a linear combination of suitable norms of all three solution components, and smoothing properties of the Neumann heat semigroup are important ingredients.