Anti-social cells: Predicting the influence of E-cadherin loss on the growth of epithelial cell populations

D. Walker (1) , N.T. Georgopoulos (2) , J. Southgate (2)

1 Department of Computer Science
2 Department of Biology [York]

The characteristics of biological tissues are determined by the interactions of large numbers of autonomous cells. These interactions can be mediated remotely by diffusive biochemical factors, or by direct cell-cell contact. E-cadherin is a protein expressed on the surface of normal epithelial cells that plays a key role in mediating intercellular adhesion via calcium-dependent homotypic interactions. E-cadherin is a metastasis-suppressor protein and its loss of function is associated with malignant progression.

Mots clés: Agent-based computational model; Epithelial cells; E-cadherin; Intercellular adhesion

D. Walker, N.T. Georgopoulos, J. Southgate. Anti-social cells: Predicting the influence of E-cadherin loss on the growth of epithelial cell populations. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2009, 262 (3), pp.425. ⟨10.1016/j.jtbi.2009.10.002⟩. ⟨hal-00554651⟩