The role of chromosome missegregation in cancer development: a theoretical approach using agent-based modelling.

ABSTRACT: Many cancers are aneuploid. However, the precise role that chromosomal instability plays in the development of cancer and in the response of tumours to treatment is still hotly debated. Here, to explore this question from a theoretical standpoint we have developed an agent-based model of tissue homeostasis in which to test the likely effects of whole chromosome mis-segregation during cancer development. In stochastic simulations, chromosome mis-segregation events at cell division lead to the generation of a diverse population of aneuploid clones that over time exhibit hyperplastic growth. Significantly, the course of cancer evolution depends on genetic linkage, as the structure of chromosomes lost or gained through mis-segregation events and the level of genetic instability function in tan

SUBMITTER: Araujo A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3753339 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature