A validated mathematical model of tumor growth including tumor-host interaction, cell-mediated immune response and chemotherapy.

ABSTRACT

We consider a dynamical model of cancer growth including three interacting cell populations of tumor cells, healthy host cells and immune effector cells. The tumor-immune and the tumor-host interactions are characterized to reproduce experimental results. A thorough dynamical analysis of the model is carried out, showing its capability to explain theoretical and empirical knowledge about tumor development. A chemotherapy treatment reproducing different experiments is also introduced. We believe that this simple model can serve as a foundation for the development of more complicated and specific cancer models.