Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Research into mechanisms of haematogenous metastasis has largely become genetic in focus, attempting to understand the molecular basis of 'seed-soil' relationships. Preceding this biological mechanism is the physical process of dissemination of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the circulation. Patterns of metastatic spread have been previously quantified using the metastatic efficiency index, a measure quantifying metastatic incidence for a given primary-target organ pair and the relative blood flow between them. We extend this concept to take into account the reduction in CTCs which occurs in organ capillary beds connected by a realistic vascular network topology. Application to a dataset of metastatic incidence reveals that metastatic patterns depend strongly on assumptions about the existence and location of micrometastatic disease which governs CTC dynamics on the network, something which has heretofore not been considered - an oversight which precludes our ability to predict metastatic patterns in individual patients.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.ejca.2014.08.019

Type

Journal article

Journal

Eur J Cancer

Publication Date

11/2014

Volume

50

Pages

3068 - 3075

Keywords

Circulating tumour cells, Mathematical model, Metastasis, Oligometastasis, Blood Circulation, Humans, Neoplasm Metastasis, Neoplasm Seeding, Neoplasms, Neoplastic Cells, Circulating, Precision Medicine