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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 31.
Published in final edited form as: Semin Cancer Biol. 2014 May 2;0:70–78. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2014.04.001

Figure 2.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Cellular phenotypic decision algorithm. Decisions are made dependent of the molecular dynamics of PLCγ and ERK, two downstream signaling molecules of EGFR, for scenarios (2)-(5). Experimental studies have shown that the transient acceleration of accumulating PLCγ levels leads to cell migration [91], while that of ERK leads to cell replication [92]. Therefore, in our model, the rate of change of PLCγ determines the cellular migration decision, and the rate of change of ERK dictates the cellular proliferation fate. Beginning with a quiescent cancer cell at step N, its phenotype at step N+1 is determined as follows: (1) cell death if the on-site glucose level is insufficient; dependent on the molecular dynamics of PLCγ and ERK, (2) the cell will remain quiescent if the rate of change of both PLCγ and ERK remain below their corresponding thresholds; (3) the cell will proliferate (and a new cell will then occupy an adjacent free location) if only the rate of change of ERK exceeds its threshold; (4-5) the cell will migrate to the adjacent free location that has the greatest cue weight if the rate of change of PLCγ (regardless of ERK) exceeds its threshold.