Conveners
Mathematical strategies to overcome resistance to anticancer drugs
- Nara Yoon (Cleveland Clinic)
- Heyrim Cho (University of Maryland)
Description
The emergence of drug resistance is a challenge to successful cancer treatments that consists of a series of multifactorial and complex processes. Drug resistance is caused by various factors including pre-existing heterogeneity in tumour cell populations regarding stromal environment and functionalities with a selection process that determines the surviving population. Beyond the selection of resistant cells, cells can also be altered towards a resistant state during the treatment, so-called drug-induced resistance, either by genetic mutations or phenotypic plasticity that yields epigenetic modifications.
The complexity of the mechanisms underlying drug resistance has encouraged its study through mathematical modelling that to describe and understand resistance dynamics. In this session, we will discuss various modelling studies including deterministic/stochastic models, and share the ideas and derived conclusions, for instance, optimizing drug protocol in different aspects, to control the resistant population and delay the potential relapse.
Multidrug resistance consists of a series of genetic and epigenetic alternations that involve multifactorial and complex processes, which are a challenge to successful cancer treatments. Accompanied by advances in biotechnology and high dimensional data analysis techniques that are bringing in new opportunities in modelling biological systems with continuous phenotypic structured models, we...
Drug resistance is a major cause of the failure of chemotherapy. Resistance manifests through a diverse set of molecular mechanisms, such as the upregulation of efflux transporters on the cell membrane, enhanced DNA damage repair mechanisms, and/or the presence of cancer stem cells. Classically, these mechanisms are understood as conferred to the cell by random genetic mutations, from which...
Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, commonly called killer T cells, are among our immune system’s most potent and well-understood weapons against cancer. However, checkpoint receptors such as CTLA-4 and PD-1 on the surfaces of T cells inhibit their activation and proliferation. These receptors can be blocked by antibody drugs, which pave the way for an anti-tumour immune response. We will present...
Growing tumours are infiltrated by a variety of immune cells, including macrophages, a type of immune cell which can adopt a range of pro- or anti-tumour phenotypes depending on microenvironmental cues. The spatial distribution of macrophages within a tumour varies from patient to patient and between different tumour types, and is related to patient outcome. There is considerable interest in...
