MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF PANCREATIC CANCER TREATMENT WITH CANCER STEM CELLS

Abstract

Of all cancers, pancreatic cancer has a significantly low rate of survival, mostly due to lack of early screening. Thus, once detected, pancreatic cancer is usually in later stages, reducing the likelihood of full recovery. The most common treatment strategy is chemotherapy, although several immunotherapeutic drugs show promising results in extending the patient’s lifespan. In this paper, we provide a validated mathematical model for the pancreatic cancer after fitting the parameter values, such as tumor growth rate, inverse carrying capacity, activation and decay rate of pancreatic stellate cells, with the use of the experimental data presented by Cioffi et al. cioffi2015inhibition For treatments with the chemotherapeutic drugs, Abraxane and Gemcitabine, and the immunotherapeutic drug, Anti-CD47, we modified the model accurately and compared the simulation results with the experimental data not only to model pancreatic cancer treatment correctly but also to move forward with other drug trials. Then, we include the cancer stem cells, which are known to initiate tumors and cause a relapse post-chemotherapy, per cancer stem cell hypothesis so that cancer progression can be assessed based on this phenomenon. In addition, we investigate optimal drug protocols. We find out that the most effective treatment is dual therapy due to extending survival time when compared to other drugs. Moreover, this study reveals that drug dose is more effectual than frequency of drug injection on account of different treatment scheduling with the same dose over a week. The model could be a starting point to investigate pancreatic cancer progression based on cancer stem cell hypothesis and shed light on novel drug discoveries.