Tumor stabilization induced by T-cell recruitment fluctuations

Abstract

The influence of random fluctuations on the recruitment of effector cells towards a tumor is studied by means of a stochastic mathematical model. Aggressively growing tumors are confronted against varying intensities of the cell-mediated immune response for which chaotic and periodic oscillations coexist together with stable tumor dynamics. A thorough parametric analysis of the noise-induced transition from this oscillatory regime to complete tumor dominance is carried out. A hysteresis phenomenon is uncovered, which stabilizes the tumor at its carrying capacity and drives the healthy and the immune cell populations to their extinction. Furthermore, it is shown that near a crisis bifurcation such transitions occur under weak noise intensities. Finally, the corresponding noise-induced chaos-order transformation is analyzed and discussed in detail.