A study of the robustness of the EGFR signalling cascade using continuous membrane systems

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 networks 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 epidermal growth factor receptor signalling cascade is developed using continuous 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.