Mathematical representations of cancer chemotherapy effects

Predictive models have been developed to simulate cancer cell populations under treatment with cytotoxic drugs, with both direct-acting and cell cycle specific drugs being considered. Models of cell growth kinetics have been combined with simple pharmacokinetic models to complete the cell-drug interaction system. The models depend on knowing the distribution of generation time in the cell population, the cell-drug interaction, and the local concentration of the drug at the effective site. All of the quantities can be obtained, in principle, from separate experiments and combined to form a model describing several aspects of the cell-drug response system.