Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The model studies the influence of hepatocyte–sinusoid alignment (HSA), i.e. the orientation of the division plane such that daughter hepatocytes align with nearby sinusoids, on the shape of tumor nodules in liver lobules. It employs the structure of the model ‘Liver Regeneration from CCl₄’ (https://seek.lisym.org/models/19).

Originally, Höhme et al. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-017-0375-1) employed a center-based model. Here, the model is encoded in the standardized language MorpheusML. Using the same processes and parameter values wherever possible, the published results are reproduced quantitatively by a cellular Potts model (CPM). While the original model considered a three-dimensional liver lobule, the MorpheusML model represents the two-dimensional cross section with correspondingly lower cell numbers.

The exponential form of the growth kinetics is reproduced as well as the slightly faster growth of clones with HSA. Tumors in which cells obey HSA show significant elongation and high aspect ratio that decreases with time matching the original data.

The detailed quantitative comparison is presented under https://identifiers.org/morpheus/M9148.