The dynamics of sensitive cancer cells during continuous and pulsed anti-cancer therapy.

<p>Subfigure (A) shows the dosing schedule specified by the growth rate of sensitive cancer cells as a function of time. The dashed line represents a dosing schedule in which the drug is administered at the maximum dose tolerated without treatment breaks. The solid line represents a schedule in which the drug is administered in pulses followed by drug holidays. Subfigures (B) and (C) show sample paths for the sensitive cell population during pulsed and continuous therapy, respectively. During treatment pulses as well as during continuous therapy, the sensitive cancer cell population declines while it expands during treatment breaks. Parameters are <i>M</i> = 10000, <i>r</i>₁ = 1.75, <i>d</i>₁ = 1.0, <i>c</i>₁ = 1.0, <i>T_on</i> = 3.0, and <i>T_off</i> = 1.0.