Speaker
Description
Epithelial Ovarian Cancer (EOC) is one of the deadliest cancers in women. It is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Due to the lack of early detection, this cancer has an average 5-year survival of only 27%. We know, that like other epithelial cancers, ovarian tumour cells remodel the extracellular matrix (ECM) components in healthy tissue in order to promote a favourable environment for replication and progression. However, the role of ECM in promoting EOC is yet to be explored. In this presentation, we aim to highlight some of the key ECM components that play a major role in the progression of tumour cells. We do this by considering the ECM as a dynamic system that can support and protect tumour cells by adapting its components. Using a system of networked ordinary differential equations, we model the tumour environment and show that, to understand the role of the ECM in tumour progression, we must consider the ECM as a collective entity and not just as individual components.
