Mechanobiology of the relocation of proteins in advecting cells: in vitro experiments, multi-physics modeling, and simulations

Cell motility—a cellular behavior of paramount relevance in embryonic development, immunological response, metastasis, or angiogenesis—demands a mechanical deformation of the cell membrane and influences the surface motion of molecules and their biochemical interactions. In this work, we develop a fully coupled multi-physics model able to capture and predict the protein flow on endothelial advecting plasma membranes. The model has been validated against co-designed in vitro experiments. The complete picture of the receptor dynamics has been understood, and limiting factors have been identified together with the laws that regulate receptor polarization. This computational approach might be insightful in the prediction of endothelial cell behavior in different tumoral environments, circumventing the time-consuming and expensive empirical characterization of each tumor.