Presentation Information
[MS14-02]Dynamics between two competing species in tumor cells with altered metabolism under hypoxic conditions
*Nor Farah Wahidah Binti Nor Khalid1, Mohd Almie Bin Alias1 (1. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Malaysia))
Keywords:
competition,metabolism
Tumor growth depends heavily on nutrient availability (i.e. oxygen, glucose) where most of the studies show that high nutrient concentration improves the rate of tumor growth. However, hypoxia (low level of oxygen) has been proven to alter cancer cell metabolism as it will increase cell survivability rate by reducing the oxidative metabolism. Tumor cells are known to be heterogeneous where distinct species might have different metabolisms. Hence, this study has considered two species of tumor cells by using the Lotka-Volterra competition-diffusion model along with the nutrient dependent metabolism model (modification based on the model by Gatenby, 1991) to study the dynamics between two competing species for a resource. The metabolism rate of both species was set at a lower rate in hypoxic conditions to increase the chance of survival. Results show that hypoxia conditions were able to enhance the competition between the two competing species. The travelling wave solutions of the species move towards the source of nutrients at a faster rate compared to the boundary with no source of nutrients.