Abstract
The main priority when designing cancer immuno-therapies has been to
seek viable biological mechanisms that lead to permanent cancer eradication
or cancer control. Understanding the delicate balance between the role
of effector and memory cells on eliminating cancer cells remains an elusive
problem in immunology. Here we make an initial investigation into this
problem with the help of a mathematical model for oncolytic virotherapy;
although the model can in fact be made general enough to be applied also to
other immunological problems. Our results show that long-term cancer control
is associated with a large number of persistent effector cells (irrespective
of the initial peak in effector cell numbers). However, this large number of
persistent effector cells is sustained by a relatively large number of memory
cells. Moreover, we show that cancer control from a dormant state cannot
be predicted by the size of the memory population.
seek viable biological mechanisms that lead to permanent cancer eradication
or cancer control. Understanding the delicate balance between the role
of effector and memory cells on eliminating cancer cells remains an elusive
problem in immunology. Here we make an initial investigation into this
problem with the help of a mathematical model for oncolytic virotherapy;
although the model can in fact be made general enough to be applied also to
other immunological problems. Our results show that long-term cancer control
is associated with a large number of persistent effector cells (irrespective
of the initial peak in effector cell numbers). However, this large number of
persistent effector cells is sustained by a relatively large number of memory
cells. Moreover, we show that cancer control from a dormant state cannot
be predicted by the size of the memory population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Journal | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
| Volume | 377 |
| Early online date | 13 Apr 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Jul 2015 |
Keywords
- Cancer modelling
- Effector and memory cells
- Tumour control
- Cancer dormancy
Access to Document
- Paper_2Feb2015_CKMRE
© 2015, Publisher / the Author(s). This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at www.sciencedirect.com / https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2015.04.004