Compartmental Model for Cancer Evolution: Chemotherapy and Drug Resistance

In this paper, a model is presented that explores the role of drug resistance in the evolution of cancer subject to treatment with a single cytotoxic agent. An important feature of this model is that it is designed to start from a single cell and generate the evolution of the cancer. From this perspective, the roles of intrinsic or natural occurring resistance as well as that of acquired resistance from chemotherapy can be seen at any stage of the development of the cancer or treatment history. Using this model, an empirical fit can be made to that of a given patient based on estimated parameters which can be updated as more observations become available. A focus is placed on the heterogeneous nature of the cancer and the effects of treatments, which suggests that this model should provide a reasonable tool to explore treatment options for cancer patients. Keywords: Cancer; Chemotherapy; Drug resistance; Compartmental model