Ceresa, MarioOlivares Miyares, Andy LuisNoailly, JérômeGonzález Ballester, Miguel Ángel, 1973-2018-05-082018-05-082018Ceresa M, Olivares AL, Noailly J, González Ballester MA. Coupled immunological and biomechanical model of emphysema progression. Front Physiol. 2018;9: article 388. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.003881664-042Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/34577Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a disabling respiratory pathology, with a high prevalence and a significant economic and social cost. It is characterized by different clinical phenotypes with different risk profiles. Detecting the correct phenotype, especially for the emphysema subtype, and predicting the risk of major exacerbations are key elements in order to deliver more effective treatments. However, emphysema onset and progression are influenced by a complex interaction between the immune system and the mechanical properties of biological tissue. The former causes chronic inflammation and tissue remodeling. The latter influences the effective resistance or appropriate mechanical response of the lung tissue to repeated breathing cycles. In this work we present a multi-scale model of both aspects, coupling Finite Element (FE) and Agent Based (AB) techniques that we would like to use to predict the onset and progression of emphysema in patients. The AB part is based on existing biological models of inflammation and immunological response as a set of coupled non-linear differential equations. The FE part simulates the biomechanical effects of repeated strain on the biological tissue. We devise a strategy to couple the discrete biological model at the molecular /cellular level and the biomechanical finite element simulations at the tissue level. We tested our implementation on a public emphysema image database and found that it can indeed simulate the evolution of clinical image biomarkers during disease progression.application/pdfeng© 2018 Ceresa, Olivares, Noailly and González Ballester. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00388COPDEmphysemaChronic bronchitisFinite element methodsAgent-based modelsBiophysical modelingMultiscale modelingSupercomputinginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess