Stochastic pharmacodynamics of a heterogeneous tumour-cell population.

ABSTRACT: Standard pharmacodynamic models are ordinary differential equations without the features of stochasticity and heterogeneity. We develop and analyse a stochastic model of a heterogeneous tumour-cell population treated with a drug, where each cell has a different value of an attribute linked to survival. Once the drug reduces a cell's value below a threshold, the cell is susceptible to death. The elimination of the last cell in the population is a natural endpoint that is not available in deterministic models. We find formulae for the probability density of this extinction time in a collection of tumour cells, each with a different regulator value, under the influence of a drug. There is a logarithmic relationship between tumour population size and mean time to extinction. We also analyse th

SUBMITTER: Truong VT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12053371 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature