Traveling wave solution of the Hele-Shaw model of tumor growth with nutrient

Several mathematical models of tumor growth are now commonly used to explain medical observations and predict cancer evolution based on images. These models incorporate mechanical laws for tissue compression combined with rules for nutrients availability which can differ depending on the situation under consideration, in vivo or in vitro. Numerical solutions exhibit, as expected from medical observations, a proliferative rim and a necrotic core. However, their precise profiles are rather complex, both in one and two dimensions. We study a simple free boundary model formed of a Hele-Shaw equation for the cell number density coupled to a diffusion equation for a nutrient. We can prove that a traveling wave solution exists with a healthy region separated from the progressing tumor by a sharp front (the free boundary) while the transition to the necrotic core is smoother. Remarkable is the pressure distribution which vanishes at the boundary of the proliferative rim with a vanishing derivative at the transition point to the necrotic core. Key-words: Tumor growth; traveling waves; Hele-Shaw asymptotic; necrotic core Mathematical Classification numbers: 76D27; 35K57; 35C07; 92C50;