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Fig. 6 | BMC Systems Biology

Fig. 6

From: Three-dimensional experiments and individual based simulations show that cell proliferation drives melanoma nest formation in human skin tissue

Fig. 6

IBM simulations corroborate experiments. a Experimental image showing all metabolically active cells (light purple) on a 3D experimental skin model initialised with 5000 proliferating melanoma cells. The magnified 3 mm × 3 mm region shows melanoma nests (dark purple). b Sub-region of the 3D simulated skin model with simulated skin agents (green) and simulated melanoma agents (blue). The dimension of the upper surface is 0.8 mm × 0.8 mm, and the depth is 0.4 mm. c Upper surface of the simulated skin model. d Cross-section through the simulated skin model. e-f Experimental and simulated nests initiated with varying numbers of melanoma cells, as indicated, and an equivalent density of simulated melanoma agents, respectively. All IBM results correspond to a typical realisation of the stochastic model. Results in (e) correspond to non-irradiated (proliferative) melanoma cells/agents. Results in (f) correspond to irradiated (non-proliferative) melanoma cells/agents. Images in (e-f) have dimensions 3 mm × 3 mm, and the depth is 2 mm. IBM parameters are τ = 0.01 h; ∆ = 20 μm; P p (m) = 0.0004; P m (m) = 0.075; P p (s) = 0.00025; P m (s) = 0.3; and q = 0.7. These parameters correspond to cell proliferation rates of λ(m) = 0.04 /h and λ(s) = 0.025 /h, and cell diffusivities of D(m) = 500 μm2/hour and D(s) = 2000 μm2/hour for melanoma and skin cells, respectively [19]. Simulations with suppressed melanoma proliferation use P p (m) = 0

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