Metabolic symbiosis between oxygenated and hypoxic tumour cells: An agent-based modelling study
Fig 8
Competition between symbiotic and non-symbiotic tumour cells.
Graphs depicting the number of active cells for two p53- cell populations with or without symbiotic capacity, with MCT1wt and MCT1-, respectively. The ratio of MCT1wt: MCT1- was 1:1 at the start of the simulations. Cells were allowed to compete at 6% of oxygen and varying levels of glucose and lactate maintained at the boundary of the computational domain. The number of total, active MCT1wt and active MCT1- cells are shown. (A). 1mM glucose and 1 mM lactate, (B). 1mM glucose and 5 mM lactate, (C). 5 mM glucose and 1 mM lactate, (D). 5 mM glucose and 5 mM lactate. The results show that symbiotic cells would not get a significant competitive advantage over non-symbiotic cells if there is sufficient glucose in the tumour microenvironment.