Cancer invasion in tissue is simultaneously regulated by chemical and mechanical cues.Evidences suggest that interstitial flow plays a critical role in tumor metastasis.On one hand,the distribution of chemokines around cell is influenced by flow.On the other hand,interstitial flow may reconfigure the alignment of fiber matrix,which greatly changes the contact force between cell and extracellular matrix.In this study,we have upgraded a model by which we can quantitatively investigate the influence of flow on tumor cell migration.A hydrodynamic analysis of shear stress on a slender body is introduced to simulate the fiber realignment.Factors such as subtle flow and cell-matrix interaction which dominate tumor migration are integrated in this novel model.Simulation results show interstitial flow facilitates tumor cell migration in the flow direction.Moreover,the flow-related chemical and mechanical cues have a synergistic effect on the migration.This model provides better understanding on cancer metastasis and helps design vitro experiment precisely.
In a recent paper(Li et al., Acta Mech. Sin. 31,32–44, 2015), the authors claimed that the general solution of steady Stokes flows can be compactly expressed using only two harmonic functions. They present two cases of a flat plate translating through a viscous fluid. The present paper shows that such a two-harmonic solution does not describe the rotation of a circular plate in an unbounded fluid and thus confirms that at least three independent harmonics are required to express the general solution of Stokes equations.
