Abstract for: Managing Chemotherapy-Induced Neutropenia using Exogenous Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

“Neutropenia” is the lethal condition of having low number of neutrophils in blood circulation, leaving the body critically vulnerable against all kinds of infections and diseases. Neutropenia caused by chemotherapeutic damage on progenitor blood cells is called “Chemotherapy Induced Neutropenia” (CIN). Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor (G-CSF), a stimulating factor on neutrophil production, is used for treatment of CIN to compensate for the destructive effect of chemotherapy by restoring neutrophil levels in blood circulation. However, recommended treatment protocols of CIN using G-CSF does not perform well for all patients to prevent neutropenia. Aim of this study is to model neutrophil production and G-CSF interaction, to analyze the dynamics of this physiological system under chemotherapy and different G-CSF regimes. Constructed model is validated using real-life data. Finally, main dynamics are analyzed, and simulation runs are taken for different patient types and treatment regimes. Based on comparison of different treatment regimes, it is concluded that optimal treatments of CIN using G-CSF highly differ for different patient profiles and patient specific treatment procedures are proved to be effective in preventing neutropenia. The constructed model reproduces the hematological response to CIN accurately and can be used to analyze and understand the critical dynamics of the system.