Modeling cancer immunotherapy: Assessing the effects of lymphocytes on cancer cell growth and motility

A mesoscopic model is used to describe the effects of lymphocyte activity on a growing tumor. The model yields novel insights into the tumor–immune system interaction. In particular, we found that the presence of a putative chemotactic messenger that helps guide the lymphocytes towards the tumor is not critical to elicit the anti-tumor effects of the immune system, while lymphocytes that block tumor cell migration contribute to limit cancer expansion and thus have a more significant therapeutic impact.