Dissecting cancer through mathematics: From the cell to the animal model
Abstract
This Timeline article charts progress in mathematical modelling of cancer over the past 50 years, highlighting the different theoretical approaches that have been used to dissect the disease and the insights that have arisen. Although most of this research was conducted with little involvement from experimentalists or clinicians, there are signs that the tide is turning and that increasing numbers of those involved in cancer research and mathematical modellers are recognizing that by working together they might more rapidly advance our understanding of cancer and improve its treatment.
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The plateau phase reflects the onset of metabolic stress and reduced proliferative capacity, closely mirroring the dormancy observed in early-stage solid tumors.
“This plateau reflects the onset of metabolic stress and reduced proliferative capacity, closely mirroring the dormancy observed in early-stage solid tumors [48,182,221].”
From Modeling Tumor Microenvironment Complexity In Vitro: Spheroids as Physiologically Relevant Tumor Models and Strategies for Their Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [221]
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References 86 · Cited by 442
- Authors
- Byrne, H. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Byrne, Helen M.
- ORCID
- Byrne, Helen M.
- Venue
- Nature reviews. Cancer
- Published
- 2010-03
- Volume
- 10
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 221-230
- ISSN
- 1474-175X (ISSN-L)
- 1474-1768
- OpenAlex
- W2006664445
- Cited by
- 442
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 31 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 28 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 4.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature reviews. Cancer (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › Mathematical Biology Tumor Growth
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Cells and Metastasis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
- Keywords
- mathematical modelling of cancer, history of cancer research, tumor growth modeling, animal models of cancer, interdisciplinary collaboration, cancer therapy
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Disease Models, Animal, Humans, Models, Biological, Neoplasms, Computational Biology, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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