Analysis of the Role of Parameters in the Chaotic Behavior of a Cancerous System and its Biological Interpretation

Cancer is one of the most important causes of mortality in human society; therefore, scientists are always looking for new ways to cope with the disease. Understanding more about the dynamics of cancerous tumors in body can help researches. Therefore, making simple models for tumor growth is important. Various models have been proposed for the dynamics of cancer cell growth in the body. In some models, the interaction of different types of cells in the cancerous system is mentioned. The cells in the cancerous system include tumor, healthy, and the immune system cells. Generally, the previous models based on these three cell populations couldn’t simulate chaotic behaviors, while the biology of cancer has confirmed chaos in the system. In this paper, a model of three variables is presented and it’s shown that for some values ​​of parameters the system can simulate chaotic behaviors. Model parameters are defined based on biological relationships, each of which plays a particular role in the dynamics of the system. To analyze the role of the parameters, a specific interval is assigned to each parameter, and by plotting the bifurcation diagram, behavioral changes of the system is observed. The results show that some of the parameters have less role in the system's behavior, and by adjusting some of them, free tumor system can be provided. Also, by setting other parameters, the system can lead to a malignant tumor. The parameters of the immune system equation have the least effect on the system’s dynamics. Regarding this finding, it can be said that applying a therapeutic approach that changes the parameters of the immune system will play a minor role in treatment. While applying therapies that change the parameters of healthy cells has the greatest effect on treatment.