Mechanics of lung cancer: A finite element model shows strain amplification during early tumorigenesis
Fig 5
Thick alveolar walls around the tumor displaces strain amplification further into the lung.
A. Early tumor in the mouse LUAD model (Masson Trichrome, original magnification 40x). B. Quantification of the alveolar wall width around mouse tumors within 3 alveoli from the tumor edge (adjacent) and > 1 mm away from the tumor. Measurements are pooled from 3 tumors in 2 mice. C. Human T1 LUAD (H&E, magnification 10x) D. Quantification of human alveolar wall width from 5 cases of T1 LUAD with a distinct tumor boundary and 2 samples of normal tissue >4 cm away from any tumor. E. Diagrams of tumor models in which adjacent alveoli have walls with original thickness of 10 μm or thickened walls of 30 μm. Thickened walls are indicated in red. F. Strain colormap around a 2 kPa tumor with thickened alveolar walls, 20% stretch. G. Strain ratio at 20% applied stretch between the baseline (10 μm) and thickened (30 μm) condition. At each alveolar distance from the tumor, p > 0.999 for 10 μm vs 30 μm comparisons.