Mathematical modelling of chemotherapy combined with bevacizumab

摘要

Antiangiogenic therapy is aimed at the blocking of angiogenesis, i.e., the process of new blood vessels formation, which should decrease oxygen and nutrients inflow to tumor and thus slow down its growth. This type of therapy is frequently administered together with chemotherapy, which kills rapidly proliferating tumor cells, as well as other dividing cells of the body, thus leading to significant adverse effects. However, action of bevacizumab inevitably influences the inflow of chemotherapeutic drug in tumor, therefore, optimal scheduling of drug administration is an important problem. Using a model based on consideration of the most crucial processes happening during tumor progression and therapy, we compare effectiveness of different schemes of combined chemotherapy with bevacizumab and propose new scheme of drug administration which may lead to enhanced antitumor effect compared to classical clinical scheme of simultaneous drug administration.