Evolutionary dynamics of cancer cell populations under immune selection pressure and optimal control of chemotherapy (Q2874976)

This nice paper is concerned with a mathematical model of the evolution of cancer and immune cells under the effects of chemotherapy and immunity-boosters. More precisely, the model is designed to describe the dynamics of a well-mixed sample consisting of three cell populations: cancer cells, circulating lymphocytes (which keep the system under control) and effector lymphocytes (whose role is to kill tumor cells). Specifically, a system of ODEs involving the density of tumor cells and the concentrations of circulating lymphocytes, effector lymphocytes and cytostatic agents is formulated. Theorem 3.1 of the paper describes the evolution of cancer cells in the case of small epimutations and immunoediting. Next, an optimal control problem is associated with the model and existence and necessary optimality conditions are derived (see Theorems 4.1 and 4.2). Numerical results and biological comments are also included.