Motion of a tumour cell under the blood flow at low Reynolds number in a curved microvessel

ABSTRACT

Investigation of the flowing behaviours of circulating tumour cells (CTCs) under the blood flow is of fundamental importance for understanding haematogenous metastasis. In this study, the motion of a CTC at low flow rates in microvessels were simulated by dissipative particle dynamics combined with a spring-based network model to characterise cell deformation. The effects of vessel curvature, cell deformability and the presence of RBCs on the motion of an initially adherent tumour cell were investigated. The results suggested that at low Reynolds number, the viscous force plays a dominant role and the curved vessel would initiate the formation of more simultaneous bonds. And, the shear force acted on the softer tumour cell would induce large contact area and further stimulate the formation of more ligand–receptor bond numbers. Moreover, to investigate the non-Newtonian nature of the blood flow on tumour cell motion, the blood was regarded as a suspension of RBCs. With the presence of RBC suspensions, the collision between the tumour cell and RBCs increases the drag force and promotes the disassociation of the CTC from the vessel wall.

KEYWORDS:

• Cell deformation
• cell adhesion
• curved microvessel
• RBCs

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11902188,11872283), Shanghai Sailing Program (19YF1417400). The grants are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China: [Grant Number 11872283, 11902188]; Shanghai Sailing Program: [Grant Number 19YF1417400].