Speaker
Description
We present a continuous model describing the interplay between tumour mass and the immune system. Building on \cite{carrillo2019population}, we incorporate a nonlocal formulation that captures adhesion and chemoattraction forces at the microscopic level.
We investigate how the proliferation–immune susceptibility trade-off can be calibrated, identifying which balance between rapid growth and immune evasion/resistance leads to more favorable tumour outcomes under immune pressure. The model is designed to explore how the emergence of spatial patterns, arising from the interplay between nonlocal interactions and reaction terms, affects tumour evolution and its response to immune pressure. This perspective is connected to the classification of tumours based on T-cell infiltration (hot vs. cold tumours, see \cite{o2019cancer}), which reflects their inflammatory and immunological state.
We first analyse homogeneous tumour populations, assessing how intrinsic proliferation–evasion properties affect both pattern formation and immune control. We then consider heterogeneous tumours characterised by a different phenotypic traits, examining the role of both quantitative composition (relative abundance) and spatial arrangement.
Overall, this framework highlights how spatial patterns and reaction dynamics jointly determine tumour behavior, providing insight into the emergence of resistant configurations and offering a theoretical basis for identifying optimal strategies in an immunotherapy context.
Bibliography
@article{carrillo2019population,
title={A population dynamics model of cell-cell adhesion incorporating population pressure and density saturation},
author={Carrillo, Jose A and Murakawa, Hideki and Sato, Makoto and Togashi, Hideru and Trush, Olena},
journal={Journal of theoretical biology},
volume={474},
pages={14--24},
year={2019},
publisher={Elsevier}
}
@article{o2019cancer,
title={Cancer immunoediting and resistance to T cell-based immunotherapy},
author={O’Donnell, Jake S and Teng, Michele WL and Smyth, Mark J},
journal={Nature reviews Clinical oncology},
volume={16},
number={3},
pages={151--167},
year={2019},
publisher={Nature Publishing Group UK London}
}
