A mathematical model quantifies proliferation and motility effects of TGF-\(\beta\) on cancer cells (Q634399)

Summary: Transforming growth factor (TGF)-\(\beta\) is known to have properties of both a tumour suppressor and a tumour promoter. While it inhibits cell proliferation, it also increases cell motility and decreases cell-cell adhesion. Coupling mathematical modelling and experiments, we investigate the growth and motility of oncogene-expressing human mammary epithelial cells under exposure to TGF-\(\beta\). We use a version of the well-known Fisher-Kolmogorov equation, and prescribe a procedure for its parametrisation. We quantify the simultaneous effects of TGF-\(\beta\) to increase the tendency of individual cells and cell clusters to move randomly and to decrease overall population growth. We demonstrate that in experiments with TGF-\(\beta\) treated cells \textit{in vitro}, TGF-\(\beta\) increases cell motility by a factor of 2 and decreases cell proliferation by a factor of 1/2 in comparison with untreated cells.