Deciphering Circulating Tumor Cells binding in a microfluidics system thanks to a parameterized mathematical model

by Christèle Etchegaray

Tuesday May 13, 2025, 3:00 PM → 4:00 PM Europe/Paris

Fokko du Cloux (Bâtiment Braconnier, La Doua)

Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths, and involves tumor cells disseminating in the body through blood circulation. These so-called Circulating Tumor Cells (CTC) may then decelerate and escape the flow thanks to their adhesion with the vessel wall. However, the interplay between hydrodynamics forces and cell dynamics remains poorly understood. 
In this talk, we are interested in the dynamics of Circulating Tumor Cells in a microfluidic device that decelerate thanks to their adhesion with an endothelial monolayer. The data extracted from experimental movies consist in cell trajectories. We developed a mathematical modeling framework coupling a Poiseuille flow and an Ordinary Differential Equation for the cell dynamics. A two-step model calibration using mixed-effects allowed to reconstruct the fluid velocity before fitting the adhesion activity to individual trajectories. The selected model then provided further insights on the interplay between fluid velocity and cells adhesion repertoire. It paves the way for a digital twin of flowing cells.