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Marzban S, Srivastava S, Kartika S, Bravo R, Safriel R, Zarski A, Anderson ARA, Chung CH, Amelio AL, West J. Spatial interactions modulate tumor growth and immune infiltration. NPJ Syst Biol Appl 2024; 10:106. [PMID: 39349537 PMCID: PMC11442770 DOI: 10.1038/s41540-024-00438-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2024] [Accepted: 09/10/2024] [Indexed: 10/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Direct observation of tumor-immune interactions is unlikely in tumors with currently available technology, but computational simulations based on clinical data can provide insight to test hypotheses. It is hypothesized that patterns of collagen evolve as a mechanism of immune escape, but the exact nature of immune-collagen interactions is poorly understood. Spatial data quantifying collagen fiber alignment in squamous cell carcinomas indicates that late-stage disease is associated with highly aligned fibers. Our computational modeling framework discriminates between two hypotheses: immune cell migration that moves (1) parallel or (2) perpendicular to collagen fiber orientation. The modeling recapitulates immune-extracellular matrix interactions where collagen patterns provide immune protection, leading to an emergent inverse relationship between disease stage and immune coverage. Here, computational modeling provides important mechanistic insights by defining a kernel cell-cell interaction function that considers a spectrum of local (cell-scale) to global (tumor-scale) spatial interactions. Short-range interaction kernels provide a mechanism for tumor cell survival under conditions with strong Allee effects, while asymmetric tumor-immune interaction kernels lead to poor immune response. Thus, the length scale of tumor-immune interaction kernels drives tumor growth and infiltration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sadegh Marzban
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Sonal Srivastava
- Department of Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Sharon Kartika
- Department of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Kolkata, India
| | - Rafael Bravo
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Rachel Safriel
- High School Internship Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Aidan Zarski
- High School Internship Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Alexander R A Anderson
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Christine H Chung
- Department of Head and Neck-Endocrine Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Antonio L Amelio
- Department of Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
- Department of Head and Neck-Endocrine Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - Jeffrey West
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Department, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.
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Marzban S, Srivastava S, Kartika S, Bravo R, Safriel R, Zarski A, Anderson A, Chung CH, Amelio AL, West J. Spatial interactions modulate tumor growth and immune infiltration. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-3962451. [PMID: 38826398 PMCID: PMC11142313 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3962451/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Lenia, a cellular automata framework used in artificial life, provides a natural setting to implement mathematical models of cancer incorporating features such as morphogenesis, homeostasis, motility, reproduction, growth, stimuli response, evolvability, and adaptation. Historically, agent-based models of cancer progression have been constructed with rules that govern birth, death and migration, with attempts to map local rules to emergent global growth dynamics. In contrast, Lenia provides a flexible framework for considering a spectrum of local (cell-scale) to global (tumor-scale) dynamics by defining an interaction kernel governing density-dependent growth dynamics. Lenia can recapitulate a range of cancer model classifications including local or global, deterministic or stochastic, non-spatial or spatial, single or multi-population, and off or on-lattice. Lenia is subsequently used to develop data-informed models of 1) single-population growth dynamics, 2) multi-population cell-cell competition models, and 3) cell migration or chemotaxis. Mathematical modeling provides important mechanistic insights. First, short-range interaction kernels provide a mechanism for tumor cell survival under conditions with strong Allee effects. Next, we find that asymmetric interaction tumor-immune kernels lead to poor immune response. Finally, modeling recapitulates immune-ECM interactions where patterns of collagen formation provide immune protection, indicated by an emergent inverse relationship between disease stage and immune coverage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sadegh Marzban
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Sonal Srivastava
- Dept. of Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Sharon Kartika
- Dept. of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata
| | - Rafael Bravo
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Rachel Safriel
- High School Internship Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Aidan Zarski
- High School Internship Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Alexander Anderson
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Christine H. Chung
- Dept. of Head and Neck-Endocrine Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Antonio L. Amelio
- Dept. of Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
- Dept. of Head and Neck-Endocrine Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Jeffrey West
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
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Marzban S, Srivastava S, Kartika S, Bravo R, Safriel R, Zarski A, Anderson A, Chung CH, Amelio AL, West J. Spatial interactions modulate tumor growth and immune infiltration. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.01.10.575036. [PMID: 38370722 PMCID: PMC10871273 DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.10.575036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Direct observation of immune cell trafficking patterns and tumor-immune interactions is unlikely in human tumors with currently available technology, but computational simulations based on clinical data can provide insight to test hypotheses. It is hypothesized that patterns of collagen formation evolve as a mechanism of immune escape, but the exact nature of the interaction between immune cells and collagen is poorly understood. Spatial data quantifying the degree of collagen fiber alignment in squamous cell carcinomas indicates that late stage disease is associated with highly aligned fibers. Here, we introduce a computational modeling framework (called Lenia) to discriminate between two hypotheses: immune cell migration that moves 1) parallel or 2) perpendicular to collagen fiber orientation. The modeling recapitulates immune-ECM interactions where collagen patterns provide immune protection, leading to an emergent inverse relationship between disease stage and immune coverage. We also illustrate the capabilities of Lenia to model the evolution of tumor progression and immune predation. Lenia provides a flexible framework for considering a spectrum of local (cell-scale) to global (tumor-scale) dynamics by defining a kernel cell-cell interaction function that governs tumor growth dynamics under immune predation with immune cell migration. Mathematical modeling provides important mechanistic insights into cell interactions. Short-range interaction kernels provide a mechanism for tumor cell survival under conditions with strong Allee effects, while asymmetric tumor-immune interaction kernels lead to poor immune response. Thus, the length scale of tumor-immune interactions drives tumor growth and infiltration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sadegh Marzban
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Sonal Srivastava
- Dept. of Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Sharon Kartika
- Dept. of Biological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata
| | - Rafael Bravo
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Rachel Safriel
- High School Internship Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Aidan Zarski
- High School Internship Program, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Alexander Anderson
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Christine H. Chung
- Dept. of Head and Neck-Endocrine Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Antonio L. Amelio
- Dept. of Tumor Microenvironment and Metastasis, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
- Dept. of Head and Neck-Endocrine Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Jeffrey West
- Integrated Mathematical Oncology Dept., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL
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Bergman DR, Wang Y, Trujillo E, Fernald AA, Li L, Pearson AT, Sweis RF, Jackson TL. Dysregulated FGFR3 signaling alters the immune landscape in bladder cancer and presents therapeutic possibilities in an agent-based model. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1358019. [PMID: 38515743 PMCID: PMC10954792 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1358019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/21/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
Bladder cancer is an increasingly prevalent global disease that continues to cause morbidity and mortality despite recent advances in treatment. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR)-targeted therapeutics have had modest success in bladder cancer when used as monotherapy. Emerging data suggests that the combination of these two therapies could lead to improved clinical outcomes, but the optimal strategy for combining these agents remains uncertain. Mathematical models, specifically agent-based models (ABMs), have shown recent successes in uncovering the multiscale dynamics that shape the trajectory of cancer. They have enabled the optimization of treatment methods and the identification of novel therapeutic strategies. To assess the combined effects of anti-PD-1 and anti-FGFR3 small molecule inhibitors (SMI) on tumor growth and the immune response, we built an ABM that captures key facets of tumor heterogeneity and CD8+ T cell phenotypes, their spatial interactions, and their response to therapeutic pressures. Our model quantifies how tumor antigenicity and FGFR3 activating mutations impact disease trajectory and response to anti-PD-1 antibodies and anti-FGFR3 SMI. We find that even a small population of weakly antigenic tumor cells bearing an FGFR3 mutation can render the tumor resistant to combination therapy. However, highly antigenic tumors can overcome therapeutic resistance mediated by FGFR3 mutation. The optimal therapy depends on the strength of the FGFR3 signaling pathway. Under certain conditions, ICI alone is optimal; in others, ICI followed by anti-FGFR3 therapy is best. These results indicate the need to quantify FGFR3 signaling and the fitness advantage conferred on bladder cancer cells harboring this mutation. This ABM approach may enable rationally designed treatment plans to improve clinical outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel R. Bergman
- Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Yixuan Wang
- Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
| | - Erica Trujillo
- Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Anthony A. Fernald
- Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Lie Li
- Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Alexander T. Pearson
- Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Randy F. Sweis
- Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
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