title: Multifaceted kinetics of immuno-evasion from tumor dormancy.
abstract: Tumor progression is subject to modulation by the immune system. The immune system can eliminate tumors or keep them at a dormant equilibrium size, while some tumors escape immunomodulation and advance to malignancy. Herein, we discuss some aspects of immune evasion of dormant tumors from a theoretical biophysics point of view that can be modeled mathematically. We go on to analyze the mathematical system on multiple timescales. First, we consider a long timescale where tumor evasion is likely due to adaptive (and somewhat deterministic) immuno-editing. Then, we consider the temporal mesoscale and hypothesize that extrinsic noise could be a major factor in induction of immuno-evasion. Implications of immuno-evasive mechanisms for the outcome of immunotherapies are also discussed. In addition, we discuss the ideas that population level tumor dormancy may not be a quiescence phenomenon and that dormant tumors can, at least if modulated by the immune system, live a very active and noisy life!
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology, Milano, Italy. alberto.donofrio@ifom-ieo-campus.it
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: d'Onofrio
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002450:Cell Communication; D016923:Cell Death; D002465:Cell Movement; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods; D007700:Kinetics; D018448:Models, Immunological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019139:Tumor Escape; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment