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| Poster, Friday, 19:00 |
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| Blood vessel network remodeling
during tumor growth
Michael Welter
Saarland University, Theoretical
Physics, PF 151150, 66041 Saarbrücken, Germany |
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| Contact:
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With the help of a theoretical model the process in which a growing tumor
transforms a hierarchically organized arterio-venous blood vessel network
into a tumor specific vasculature is analyzed.
The determinants of this remodeling process involve the morphological
and hydrodynamic properties of the initial network, generation of new vessels
(sprouting angiogenesis), vessel dilation (circumferential growth), blood
flow correlated vessel regression, tumor cell proliferation and death,
and the interdependence of these processes via spatio-temporal changes
of blood flow parameters, oxygen / nutrient supply and growth factor concentration
fields.
The emerging tumor vasculature is non-hierarchical and compartmentalized
into different zones. It displays a complex geometry with necrotic zones
and "hot spots" of increased vascular density and blood flow of varying
size. The model allows to reveal the physical origin of geometric and morphological
features and predicts the large scale patterns of blood and interstitial
fluid flow and its influence on drug delivery. |
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