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| The immune system plays a major role in protecting our body against invasion of pathogens (antigens) such as bacteria and viruses. A T cell population is a major type of immune cell which is educated in the thymus to discriminate self and non-self antigens. Antigen specific elimination of pathogens is known as the adaptive immune response.
Tumor cells are initially given risen from a normal tissue that is not recognized as an enemy by immune cells. Moreover, immune responses are maintained by complex interactions among immune cells via secretion of cytokines. For these reasons, immune responses against tumor at the initial phase are genetically ineffective. {\it Ex vivo} boosting of a particular type of immune cells is therefore an essential therapeutic manipulation to initiate effective and sustained immune responses against tumor cells.
We formulate mathematical models that describe complex positive and negative interactions among immune cells against tumor cells. We investigate effects of {\it ex vivo} boosting of immune cells by mathematical analysis and numerical simulations. In the symposium, we will show our theoretical classification for the effects of existing immunotherapies such as adoptive T cell transfer and NKT cell adjuvant-based tumor vaccine to tumor killing and growth suppression. |
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