Effects of delayed immune-activation in the dynamics of tumor-immune interactions

Abstract

This article presents the impact of distributed and discrete delays that emerge in the formulation of a mathematical model of the human immunological system describing the interactions of effector cells (ECs), tumor cells (TCs) and helper T-cells (HTCs). We investigate the stability of equilibria and the commencement of sustained oscillations after Hopf-bifurcation. Moreover, based on the center manifold theorem and normal form theory, the expression for direction and stability of Hopf-bifurcation occurring at tumor presence equilibrium point of the system has been derived explicitly. The effect of distributed delay involved in immune-activation on the system dynamics of the tumor is demonstrated. Numerical simulations are also illustrated for elucidating the change of dynamic behavior by varying system parameters.