Abstract
This paper aims to study the dynamics of immune suppressors/checkpoints, immune system, and BCG in the treatment of superficial bladder cancer. Programmed cell death protein-1 (PD-1), cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) are some of the examples of immune suppressors/checkpoints. They are responsible for deactivating the immune system and enhancing immunological tolerance. Moreover, they categorically downregulate and suppress the immune system by preventing and blocking the activation of T-cells, which in turn decreases autoimmunity and enhances self-tolerance. In cancer immunotherapy, the immune checkpoints/suppressors prevent and block the immune cells from attacking, spreading, and killing the cancer cells, which leads to cancer growth and development. We formulate a mathematical model that studies three possible dynamics of the treatment and establish the effects of the immune checkpoints on the immune system and the treatment at large. Although the effect cannot be seen explicitly in the analysis of the model, we show it by numerical simulations.
Highlights
Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by out-of-control cell growth which affects and damages the DNA
Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a type of immunotherapy that is used to treat superficial bladder cancer [12, 13]
The model consists of a system of four nonlinear differential equations, which characterize the dynamics of the interaction between cancer cells (C), different arms of the immune system regarded as effector cells (E), the BCG (B), and all categories of immune suppressors/checkpoints as (P)
Summary
One of the most effective ways of treating bladder cancer is immunotherapy This is the process of stimulating, activating, and triggering the immune system to spread, locate, and kill cancer cells [8]. Intravesical BCG is a type of immunotherapy that is used to treat superficial bladder cancer [12, 13] It is usually applied after local surgery to prevent tumor recurrence. Cancer cells take advantage of this immune checkpoint pathway as a way to escape and evade detection This leads to the inhibition of antitumor immune response, resulting in cancer growth and development [25, 26]. We formulate a mathematical model to study the dynamics of immune checkpoints/suppressors, immune system, and the BCG immunotherapy of bladder cancer.
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