Asymptotic Analysis of a Two-Phase Model of Solid Tumour Growth

Abstract

We investigate avascular tumour growth as a two-phase process consisting of cells and liquid. Based on the one-dimensional continuum moving-boundary model formulated by (Byrne, King, McElwain, Preziosi, Applied Mathematics Letters, 2003, 16, 567-573), we defined boundary conditions for the analogous model of tumour growth in two dimensions. We investigate linear stability of one dimensional time-dependent solution profiles in the moving-boundary formulation of a limit case (with negligible nutrient consumption and cell drag). For this, we obtain an asymptotic limit of the two-dimensional perturbations for large time (in the case where the tumour is growing) by using the method of matched asymptotic approximations. Having characterised an asymptotic limit of the perturbations, we compare it to the time-dependent solution profile in order to analytically obtain a condition for instability. Numerical simulations are mentioned.