Recovery of normal hemopoiesis in disseminated cancer therapy - a model

The strategy of normal cell regeneration with recombinant hematopoietic gro wth factors during cancer chemotherapy is investigated by superimposing a t reatment protocol on a simple model that describes an expanding malignant c ell population that is coexisting with and inhibiting the population of nor mal cells. The model predictions suggest that the strategy of normal cell s timulation, possibly with growth factors, and possibly carried out within a n intensive treatment framework may be a worthwhile chemotherapeutic option . Under this protocol, the model also predicts a minimum time interval for active treatment, a time to discontinue treatment, and a rest period during treatment in order to guarantee patient safety and recovery. Consequently, by relating and comparing model predictions to patient data, model simulat ions forecast that treatment could be shortened by 1-2 weeks if organized o ver or in the neighborhood of a predicted optimal time interval. Following this, it is conjectured that such an approach engendered by the model could produce outcomes that may have an edge over outcomes arising from therapeu tic strategies that are executed over time frames that are relatively longe r or significantly shorter than the predicted optimal time. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science Inc. All rights reserved.