WSEAS Transactions on Biology and Biomedicine
Print ISSN: 1109-9518, E-ISSN: 2224-2902
Volume 15, 2018
Optimal Treatments in Cancer Immunotherapy Involving CD4+ T Cells
Authors: ,
Abstract: We apply optimal control theory to a model of interactions between cancer cells, CD4+ T cells, cytokines and host cells to devise best immunotherapies for treating cancer. The CD4+ T cells cannot kill cancer cells directly but use the cytokines produced to suppress tumor growth. The immunotherapy implemented is modeled as a control agent and it can be either transferring of CD4+ T cells, cytokines or both. We establish existence and uniqueness of the optimal control. The optimal treatment strategy is then solved numerically under different scenarios. Our numerical results provide best protocols in terms of strengths and timing of the treatments.