Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
A Mathematical Model of Gene Therapy
for the Treatment of Cancer
Alexei Tsygvintsev, Simeone Marino, and Denise E. Kirschner
1
Introduction
Cancer is a major cause of death worldwide, resulting from the uncontrolled growth
of abnormal cells in the body. Cells are the body's building blocks, and cancer starts
from normal cells. Normal cells divide to grow in order to maintain cell population
equilibrium, balancing cell death. Cancer occurs when unbounded growth of cells
in the body happens fast. It can also occur when cells lose their ability to die. There
are many different kinds of cancers, which can develop in almost any organ or
tissue, such as lung, colon, breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue. There are many
known causes of cancers that have been documented to date including exposure
to chemicals, drinking excess alcohol, excessive sunlight exposure, and genetic
differences, to name a few [
38
]. However, the cause of many cancers still remains
unknown. The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer. Some
cancers are more common in certain parts of the world. For example, in Japan,
there are many cases of stomach cancer, but in the USA, this type of cancer is
pretty rare [
49
]. Differences in diet may play a role. Another hypothesis is that these
different populations could have different genetic backgrounds predisposing them
to cancer. Some cancers also prey on individuals who are either missing or have
altered genes as compared to the mainstream population. Unfortunately, treatment
A. Tsygvintsev (
)
UMPA, ENS de Lyon, 46, allee d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France
e-mail:
alexei.tsygvintsev@ens-lyon.fr
S. Marino D.E. Kirschner
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Michigan Medical School,
6730 Med. Sci. Bldg. II, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0620, USA
e-mail:
simeonem@umich.edu
;
kirschne@umich.edu
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