Additional file 3 of Cell adhesion heterogeneity reinforces tumour cell dissemination: novel insights from a mathematical model

Mean adhesive states comparison. Mean adhesive states comparison for disseminated cells in populations with different adhesion heterogeneity parameters γ and α=1. The plots show the mean adhesive states [Eq. (4)] of disseminated cells ā D $\bar {a}^{D}$ (curves) and non-disseminated cells ā N $\bar {a}^{N}$ (curves + circles) over time for γ=0,0.05,0.25,0.4,0.55 and α=1. Both ā D $\bar {a}^{D}$ and ā N $\bar {a}^{N}$ converge towards equilibrium states for all γ-values. The decrease of mean equilibrium adhesive states with increasing γ-values is significantly stronger between and for fixed γ in scenarios in which cellular adhesion phenotypes are under environmental control (red, Additional files 5 and 6). (PNG 347 kb)