Dynamic suicide gene therapy control
Date
2010
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Based on the recent dynamic gene therapy proposed by Martinez-Quintanilla et al., we have developed a set of ordinary differential equations to model the dynamics of various cancerous cells during tumor growth and treatment. We then exploited the dependence of certain parameters within the system during therapy to devise an optimal control method for treatment. Employing the use of an optimal controller allows us to analyze the best possible outcome of the treatment under several conditions. In this thesis we will apply an optimal controller to the system under various conditions taking specific note of the total tumor burden as a result of the treatment and total treatment time. We will then prove that an optimal control approach is very helpful and may even be necessary for successful implementation of this novel cancer therapy.