Cancer Stem Cell Plasticity as Tumor Growth Promoter and Catalyst of Population Collapse

Figure 2

Average total cell count (a), cancer stem cell (CSC) number (b) and fraction (c), and coefficient of variation, that is, standard deviation/mean, for the total cell count (d) as a function of time for tumor without plasticity (, blue solid curve) and with plasticity probability of 0.1% (red dashed curve), 1% (yellow dot-dashed curve), and 10% (purple dotted curve). Shown are means from 100 simulation runs (only successfully grown tumors are considered). Error bars are omitted for clarity.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)