Discrete Kinetic Cellular Models of Tumors Immune Systems Interactions

This paper deals with a kinetic modelling of the cellular dynamics of tumors interacting with an active immune defence system. The analysis starts from the model proposed in Refs. 4 and 5 where a kinetic (cellular) theory of the interactions and competition between tumor cells and immune system is developed in a framework similar to the one of nonlinear statistical mechanics. The class of models proposed in this paper replaces the system of integro-differential equations by a system of ordinary differential equations. This has several advantages. Firstly, it allows immediate interpretations of the control parameters and is characterized by a relatively lower computational complexity. Further, some interesting periodicity properties of the solutions are characterized.