Special Session 40: Applications of dynamical systems in medicine and biology

Mathematical modelling of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions
Urszula Forys
University of Warsaw, Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics
Poland
Co-Author(s):    Magdalena Szafra\`{n}ska-\L{}\c{e}czycka
Abstract:
Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition and its reverse, Mesenchymal-to-Epithelial Transition, are important biological processes influencing cancer progression, in particular tumor invasiveness and metastatasis. Based on Celi\`{a}-Terrassa et al. (2018), we propose a mathematical model describing interactions between main components of these transitions, taking into account: initiation of TGF-$\beta$ signaling, the miR-200/ZEB feedback loop, and E-cadherin expression, which is a marker of the epithelial phenotype. In my talk I will present the scheme of the model and the basic dynamics of its two main subsystems: the first one describing TGF-$\beta$ in its free and bound forms, and the other one describing production and degradation of miR-200, ZEB and E-cadherin. The main feature of the second subsystem is the possibility of bistability and hysteresis, which is dependent on the level of TGF-$\beta$ flowing there. I will focus mainly on that aspect on the presented model.