Kinetics of the formation of cancer metastases via induced premetastatic cancer-stem-cell niches

Journal article, 2009

The author presents a kinetic model describing the formation of new metastases by cancer stem cells in premetastatic stem-cell niches induced by the factors produced by a primary tumor and already formed metastases. The corresponding kinetics is analyzed by employing mean-field kinetic equations and Monte Carlo simulations. In agreement with observations, the model predicts a long latent period with low rate of the metastase growth followed by explosive increase in the number of metastases. The duration of the latent period is found to depend on a multitude of rate constants characterizing various processes.