Lifeng Han, US Food and Drug Administration
Abstract: Cancer neoantigen vaccines have emerged as a promising approach to stimulate the immune system to fight cancer. We propose a simple model including key elements of cancer-immune interactions and conduct a phase plane analysis to understand immunological mechanisms of cancer neoantigen vaccines. Analytical results are obtained for two widely used functional forms that represent killing rate of tumor cells by immune cells: the law of mass action (LMA) and the dePillis-Radunskaya Law (LPR). We found that a slowly growing tumor can escape the immune surveillance when the LMA is used. The use of LPR makes tumor elimination possible, which lends support for using cancer vaccines as an adjuvant therapy. The implications of the model for vaccine dose schedule will also be discussed.
Bio: Lifeng Han is a postdoctoral fellow at the US Food and Drug Administration working on mathematical modeling of cancer immunotherapy. He obtained his PhD in applied math from Arizona State University. For his PhD research, he worked in the field of mathematical biology. His research interests are in mathematical modeling of cancer and its treatment with a focus on temporal and spatial dynamics that arises from time delay and stochasticity.
Meeting ID: 936 4929 5171
Passcode: 918117