A multiscale computational model of YAP signaling in epithelial fingering behavior

In epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), cells organized into sheets break away and become motile mesenchymal cells. EMT plays a crucial role in wound healing, embryonic development, and cancer metastasis. Intracellular signaling in response to mechanical, topographic, or chemical stimuli can promote EMT. We present a multiscale model for EMT downstream of the protein YAP, which suppresses the cell-cell adhesion protein E-cadherin and activates the GTPase Rac1 that enhances cell migration. We first propose an ordinary differential equation (ODE) model for intracellular YAP/Rac1/E-cadherin interactions. The ODE model dynamics are bistable, accounting for both motile loose cells and adherent slower cells. We incorporate this model into a cellular Potts model simulation of two-dimensional wound healing using the open-source platform Morpheus. We show that, under suitable stimuli representing topographic cues, the sheet exhibits finger-like projections and EMT. Morphological differences and quantitative differences in YAP levels as well as variations in cell speed across the sheet are consistent with previous experimental observations of epithelial sheets grown on topographic features in vitro. The simulation is also consistent with experiments that knock down or overexpress YAP, inhibit Rac1, or block E-cadherin.