Speaker
Description
Oncolytic virotherapy is an emerging cancer treatment that uses viruses to selectively infect and destroy tumor cells while stimulating immune responses. However, most mathematical models consider either spatial diffusion or intracellular viral delay separately, leaving a gap in understanding their combined influence on tumor dynamics and therapeutic outcomes. In this work, our objective is to investigate the combined effects of spatial diffusion and intracellular delay using a time-delayed reaction–diffusion model that describes interactions between tumor cells, infected cells, free virus, and immune effectors. We analyze the kinetic system and derive the basic reproduction number, establishing conditions for viral invasion. Stability analysis shows that delay can induce Hopf bifurcation and oscillatory tumor dynamics. We further study traveling wave solutions to describe spatial infection spread and introduce a tumor control probability framework to assess treatment effectiveness. Numerical simulations show that intracellular delay significantly influences dynamic behavior and that optimized multi-dose injection schedules improve tumor control. These results highlight the combined role of delay and spatial effects in shaping tumor dynamics and provide guidance for optimizing virotherapy strategies.
Bibliography
@article{baabdulla2024oscillations,
title={Oscillations in a spatial oncolytic virus model},
author={Baabdulla, Arwa Abdulla and Hillen, Thomas},
journal={Bulletin of Mathematical Biology},
volume={86},
number={8},
pages={93},
year={2024},
publisher={Springer}
}
@article{mohammadnejad2025qualitative,
title={Qualitative optimization of oncolytic virotherapy and immune therapy combination treatments},
author={Mohammadnejad, Negar and Hillen, Thomas},
journal={bioRxiv},
pages={2025--09},
year={2025},
publisher={Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}
}
@article{mahasa2017oncolytic,
title={Oncolytic potency and reduced virus tumor-specificity in oncolytic virotherapy. A mathematical modelling approach},
author={Mahasa, Khaphetsi Joseph and Eladdadi, Amina and De Pillis, Lisette and Ouifki, Rachid},
journal={PLoS One},
volume={12},
number={9},
pages={e0184347},
year={2017},
publisher={Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA}
}
@article{macnamara2015memory,
title={Memory versus effector immune responses in oncolytic virotherapies},
author={Macnamara, Cicely and Eftimie, Raluca},
journal={Journal of theoretical biology},
volume={377},
pages={1--9},
year={2015},
publisher={Elsevier}
}
@article{xiao2026oncolytic,
title={Oncolytic viruses: advanced strategies in cancer therapy},
author={Xiao, Danli and Zhang, Huarong and Liu, Ye and Li, Yan and Li, Gongchu and Ning, Yunshan},
journal={Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy},
volume={11},
number={1},
pages={45},
year={2026},
publisher={Nature Publishing Group UK London}
}
