Biomechanical Effects on Traveling Waves at the Interface of Cell Populations

Abstract

This study builds upon a model proposed by Joanny and collaborators that examines the dynamics of interfaces between two distinct cell populations, particularly during tumor growth in healthy tissues. This framework leads to the investigation of a general model with a non-local and strongly nonlinear advection term representing the biomechanical interaction between both populations. The model captures the evolution of front propagation, reflecting the interaction between cell population dynamics and tissue mechanics. We explore the existence of traveling wave solutions to this problem and establish upper and lower bounds on the propagation speed across various biological parameters. In this way, the model accounts for both biomechanical and biochemical interactions.