Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms

Abstract Despite advances in targeted cancer therapy, the promise of precision medicine has been limited by resistance to these treatments. In this study, we propose a mathematical modelling framework incorporating cellular heterogeneity, genetic evolutionary dynamics, and non-genetic plasticity, ac...

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Main Authors: Wei He, Matthew D. McCoy, Rebecca B. Riggins, Robert A. Beckman, Chen-Hsiang Yeang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:npj Systems Biology and Applications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-025-00547-5
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author Wei He
Matthew D. McCoy
Rebecca B. Riggins
Robert A. Beckman
Chen-Hsiang Yeang
author_facet Wei He
Matthew D. McCoy
Rebecca B. Riggins
Robert A. Beckman
Chen-Hsiang Yeang
author_sort Wei He
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Despite advances in targeted cancer therapy, the promise of precision medicine has been limited by resistance to these treatments. In this study, we propose a mathematical modelling framework incorporating cellular heterogeneity, genetic evolutionary dynamics, and non-genetic plasticity, accounting for both irreversible and reversible drug resistance. Previously we proposed Dynamic Precision Medicine (DPM), a personalized treatment strategy that designed individualized treatment sequences by simulations of irreversible genetic evolutionary dynamics in a heterogeneous tumor. Here we apply DPM to the joint model of reversible and irreversible drug resistance mechanisms, analyze the simulation results and compare the efficacy of various treatment strategies. The results indicate that this enhanced version of DPM significantly outperforms current personalized medicine treatment approaches. Our results provide insights into cancer treatment strategies for heterogeneous tumors with genetic evolutionary dynamics and non-genetic cellular plasticity, potentially leading to improvements in survival time for cancer patients.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2056-7189
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Nature Portfolio
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series npj Systems Biology and Applications
spelling doaj-art-ba7f1fed92bb4c88a10e2cdd497dbc6a2025-08-20T03:38:15ZengNature Portfolionpj Systems Biology and Applications2056-71892025-07-0111111510.1038/s41540-025-00547-5Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanismsWei He0Matthew D. McCoy1Rebecca B. Riggins2Robert A. Beckman3Chen-Hsiang Yeang4Department of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical CenterDepartment of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical CenterDepartment of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical CenterDepartment of Oncology, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University Medical CenterInstitute of Statistical Science, Academia SinicaAbstract Despite advances in targeted cancer therapy, the promise of precision medicine has been limited by resistance to these treatments. In this study, we propose a mathematical modelling framework incorporating cellular heterogeneity, genetic evolutionary dynamics, and non-genetic plasticity, accounting for both irreversible and reversible drug resistance. Previously we proposed Dynamic Precision Medicine (DPM), a personalized treatment strategy that designed individualized treatment sequences by simulations of irreversible genetic evolutionary dynamics in a heterogeneous tumor. Here we apply DPM to the joint model of reversible and irreversible drug resistance mechanisms, analyze the simulation results and compare the efficacy of various treatment strategies. The results indicate that this enhanced version of DPM significantly outperforms current personalized medicine treatment approaches. Our results provide insights into cancer treatment strategies for heterogeneous tumors with genetic evolutionary dynamics and non-genetic cellular plasticity, potentially leading to improvements in survival time for cancer patients.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-025-00547-5
spellingShingle Wei He
Matthew D. McCoy
Rebecca B. Riggins
Robert A. Beckman
Chen-Hsiang Yeang
Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
npj Systems Biology and Applications
title Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
title_full Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
title_fullStr Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
title_full_unstemmed Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
title_short Personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
title_sort personalized cancer treatment strategies incorporating irreversible and reversible drug resistance mechanisms
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-025-00547-5
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