Investigation of the Effect of Adding Stem Cells-as an Therapeutic Suggestion-on the Immune System's Response to the Cancerous Cells: A Mathematical Approach

Abstract

Cancer has been triggered by mutations in normal cells, and these mutations react to the immune system. Investigating the behavior of cells in this situation is very challenging based on empirical analysis and can sometimes not be performed. However, mathematical tools can make it easy to study this subject. In this work, we investigated the immune system response using differential equations in two steps: first, rapid attack of NK cells; second, complementary reaction of macrophages and T-cells. For the cases which mutant cells escape from the immune system attack, it is suggested that immunotherapy be performed by adding stem cells to help the immune system. In this study, the effectiveness of the defense against mutation cells is modeled in different conditions: first immune response, barely; first and second immune response together; and finally, first and second immune response along with injected stem cells as a therapeutic proposition. To show the effect of stem cells on making defense more efficient, we have studied stability of the system in divergent situations and compared equilibrium points of the model in these situations.