Theoretical Modeling Techniques and Their Impact on Tumor Immunology

Figure 2

Differential equations system. A simplified differential equations system describes the interaction between tumor cells (𝑇) and CD8 T-cells (𝐾). The only difference between the simulation of a nonimmunogenic tumor (upper graph) and an immunogenic tumor (lower graph) is that parameter 𝑔 is increased leading to an increase in tumor immunogenicity. Lysis of tumor cells by the CD8 T-cells and the activation of CD8 T-cells by tumor cells follow a Michaelis-Menten kinetic to account for saturation at high cell numbers. The death rate of CD8 T-cells is proportional to the square of the cell number to assure for fast declining waves of T-cell expansion. Equations and parameters modified from [27], parameters originally obtained from a published mouse study [28].