Cell Signalling in Tumor Growth and Tissue Mechanics

细胞通过机械转导对其物理环境做出反应，将机械力转化为生化信号；诱发的细胞表型变化可导致细胞微环境的改变，从而产生发育反馈。这种机械敏感途径和其他细胞间和细胞内信号机制之间的相互作用决定了细胞的分化，并最终决定了组织的发育。这种发育机制与癌症的发生和发展具有关键的相关性。癌症是一种固有的复杂性疾病(涉及跨越不同时空尺度的各种过程的相互作用，从细胞内信号级联到组织水平的机制)，尽管有丰富的理论和实验研究，但它仍然是导致死亡和发病的主要原因：在英国，超过三分之一的人会患上某种形式的癌症。因此，迫切需要对这些高度复杂的系统有更多的定量了解，这些系统非常适合数学研究

Cells respond to their physical environment through mechanotransduction, the translation of mechanical forces into biochemical signals; evoked cell phenotypic changes can lead to an altered cell microenvironment, creating a developmental feedback. Interplay between such mechanosensitive pathways and other inter- and intra-cellular signalling mechanisms determines cell differentiation and, ultimately, tissue development. Such developmental mechanisms have key relevance to the initiation and development of cancer, a disease of such inherent complexity (involving the interaction of a variety of processes across disparate spatio-temporal scales, from intracellular signalling cascades to tissue-level mechanics) that, despite a wealth of theoretical and experimental studies, it remains a leading cause of mortality and morbidity: in the UK, more than one in three people will develop some form of cancer. There is therefore an urgent need to gain greater quantitative understanding of these highly complex systems, which are well-suited to mathematical study