Cancer Treatment Using Multiple Chemotheraputic Agents Subject to Drug Resistance

A compartment model for the evolution of cancer subject to multiple chemotherapeutic agents is presented. The formulation accounts for the heterogeneous nature of cancer and drug resistance, leading to a system that can be used as a tool for optimizing treatments. Chemotherapeutic or cytotoxic agents have limited effectiveness due to of toxicity and the development of drug resistance. Toxicity limits the amount of the agent that can be used and acts as an upper bound on the dosage. Drug resistance causes the clinical value of the cytotoxic agent to become nominal after a small number of treatments. Therefore, several non-cross resistant cytotoxic agents are used to extend the number of treatments that can be administered.