Modelling pulsed immunotherapy of tumour–immune interaction

Jin Yang, Sanyi Tang and Robert A. Cheke

Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM), 2015, vol. 109, issue C, 92-112

Abstract: We develop a mathematical model that describes the tumour–immune interaction and the effect on it of pulsed immunotherapy, based on the administration of adoptive cellular immunotherapy (ACI) combined with interleukin-2 (IL-2). The stability conditions for the tumour-free periodic solution are provided with different frequencies of ACI applications and IL-2 infusions. Furthermore, the effects of period, dosage and times of drug deliveries on the amplitudes of the tumour-free periodic solution were investigated. The most feasible immunotherapy strategy was determined by comparing immunotherapy with ACI treatment with or without IL-2. However, to investigate how to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy (radiotherapy) and reduce its side-effects, we developed a model involving periodic applications of immunotherapy with chemotherapy (radiotherapy) applied only when the density of the tumour reached a given threshold. The results revealed that the initial densities, the effector cell: tumour cell ratios, the periods T and a given critical number of tumour cells CT are crucial for cancer treatment, which confirms that it is important to customize treatment strategies for individual patients.

Keywords: Cancer; Immunotherapy; Periodic solution; Combined therapy; Threshold (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378475414002341
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:matcom:v:109:y:2015:i:c:p:92-112

DOI: 10.1016/j.matcom.2014.09.001

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM) is currently edited by Robert Beauwens

More articles in Mathematics and Computers in Simulation (MATCOM) from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().