Using mathematics to treat cancer

[brainhulk]

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180430131809.htm

Standard cancer treatments and most clinical trials are based on the notion that physicians need to treat patients with the highest dose of a drug possible to kill the most cancer cells in the shortest amount of time. But often, tumor cells manage to find ways to thrive by activating survival mechanisms.
"An evolutionary flaw in this maximum-tolerated dose strategy is the assumption that resistant populations are not present prior to therapy. It is now clear that cancer cells can be insensitive even to treatment that they have never seen before," explained study author Jill Gallaher, Ph.D., an applied research scientist in the Department of Integrated Mathematical Oncology at Moffitt.
According to the Moffitt team, this can be explained through the evolutionary principle of competitive release. An example of this can be found in the use of chemical pesticides for gardens and crops. When the highest pesticide dose is used, the insect population undergoes high selection pressure and those insects that are sensitive to the insecticide are killed. However, some insects are able to survive because of already existing resistance, and with the disappearance of their competitors, these insects are able to multiply and generate a resistant population. It has become clear that existing resistant tumor cells can respond the same way following treatment.

/fascinating

I wonder if mathematics will be ultimately responsible to toppling cancer. Cool stuff

"Our work illustrates clearly the importance of using treatment response as a key driver of treatment decisions, rather than fixed strategies. We strongly believe that the future of precision medicine should be focused not only on the development of new drugs but also in the smarter evolutionary use of preexisting drugs,"