Table 1.

Current experimental and computation models of the microenvironment influence on cell fate

Type of Model	Characteristic Being Tested	Results Influenced by the Characteristic	Reference
Experimental	ECM stiffness	lineage dependent on stiffness	9, 21, 32, 65
	cocultured cells	lineage dependent on cocultured cells	66, 67
	MMP activity	inhibition of MMP activity results in reduced speed and persistence of cell movement	40
Computational	MMP activity	inhibition of MMP activity results in reduced speed and persistence of cell movement	28
	uPA activity	cell invasion result of chemotactic and haptotactic reactions	2
	proliferation, angiogenesis	necrotic core within tumor, high microvascular density at periphery	12
	proliferation, migration	cancer cells with aggressive phenotypes preferentially migrate	8
	migration, chemotaxis	hypoxia and heterogeneous ECM result in more aggressive tumor cells	3, 4
	oxygen, nutrient levels	subpopulation preferentially accounts for tumor growth	34

ECM, extracellular matrix; MMP, matrix metalloproteinase; uPA, urokinase-type plasminogen activator.