A Study of the Robustness of the EGFR Signalling Cascade Using Continuous Membrane Systems

Abstract

Many approaches to anticancer treatment have had a limited success. A fundamental hurdle to cancer therapy is the robustness of the signalling networks involved in tumourgenesis. The complexity of net- works of biological signalling pathways is such that the development of simplifying models is essential in trying to understand the wide-ranging cellular responses they can generate. In this paper a model of the epider- mal growth factor receptor signalling cascade is developed using contin- uous membrane systems. This model is used to study the robustness of this signalling cascade which is known to play a key role in tumour cell proliferation, angiogenesis and metastasis.