A Critique on Mathematical Modelling and

Prediction of the Effect of Chemotherapy on Cancer Cells

Bernadette Joyce T. Barillo

This critique focuses on the article entitled Mathematical Modelling and Prediction
of the Effect of Chemotherapy on Cancer Cells by Hamidreza Namazi, Vladimir V. Kulish,
and Albert Wong. The article was published on August 28, 2015 at Scientific Reports 5 of
Nature Publishing Group. In this critique, it discusses an explanation of the background and
purpose of the authors study; moreover, it also criticizes the effectiveness of the authors on
explaining their studys purpose and over-all content.
The article, lead by the main author Hamidreza Namazi, introduces their study by
defining that cancer cells are cells that cannot be controlled in dividing and these cells form a
tumour; moreover they defined that the chemotherapy, one of the methods for treating
cancer, affects the behaviour of the cancer cells from dividing by an application of drug
through an injection into the bloodstream. The purpose of the authors is to present their
developed model, fractional diffusion equation model (FDE), to predict the effect of the
diffusion of anti-cancer drug that travels through bloodstream to tumour. To support their
study, the authors first discuss the relationship between DNA walk and drug diffusion to
develop the model. By citing a research done by Namazi and Kiminezhadmalaie, they found
that DNA walk, a multi-fractal series, shows higher degree of fractality and less degree of
predictability for cancer cells than to DNA walk of normal cells. Secondly, the analysis of the
authors is that after applying anti-cancer drug, specifically a Cisplatin by a cannula to the 50
patients with confirmed small lung cancer cells, these cells would be replaced by normal
cells, meaning it would be normal DNA again. To know the effectiveness of anti-cancer drug
after applying, the DNA walk of damaged cells should be similar to the normal DNA walk
of the other healthy parts of body. In order to do their analysis, the authors used Matlab to
compute for the Hurst Exponent and Fractal dimension spectra for the complexity of the
predictability of DNA walk of cancer cells after applying the drug and the DNA walk of the
normal cells for each patient, where the DNA walk of the damaged cells is the input in the
modelled equation. After conducting the experiment, the result in their study shows that
there is small difference between the values of the Hurst exponent and Fractal dimension for
the modelled DNA walk and normal DNA walk, which proved that the fractional diffusion
equation could predict the DNA walk after applying anti-cancer drug.
The article is conducted and researched by the three authors namely, Hamidreza
Namazi, Vladimir V. Kulish, and Albert Wong. Among the three authors of the study,
Hamidreza Namazi, which I strongly believe is the main author since he focuses on
biomedical engineering as his field of study. Furthermore, Hamidreza Namazi, a graduate of
Nanyang Technological University, is well-known on developing mathematical modelling
on cancer or responses of human brain on neuronal activity.
In the article, the purpose of the main author, including his co-authors, is to predict
the effects of chemotherapy to cancer cells through Fractional Diffusion Model. The authors
started their work with a well-explained introduction on cancer and chemotherapy. They
also cited some researches about the prediction of the effects of chemotherapy using another
mathematical model, which helped them to develop another model to predict the effects of
chemotherapy on cancer cells. The authors also presented graphs on their method, which is
effective on understanding their data gathered. On the contrary, there are typographical
errors in the method part of their study, but it does not lead to a difficulty in understanding
the concepts they discussed. Before developing their equation model, they defined
successfully some of the concepts such DNA walk for cancer cells and normal cells, which I
think, makes their purpose and concepts involved in the study to be easily comprehend. The
authors show their derivation of diffusion equation model; however, in this part of their
article, the authors did not specify some of the notations they used. I recommend that all
notations should be clearly stated for better understanding of the derivation of the model.
The authors clearly and completely explained on how they gather their data from giving
proper consent to participants of their study to conducting their experiment. However, the
article lacked interpretations in the result part of the study. The authors presented the
computed values for Hurst exponent and fractal dimension for two types of DNA walk,
normal and damaged cells, through Matlab, but these values lack interpretation. I think clear
interpretations for the values computed must be stated for better comprehension of the
obtained result.
The study does not show any biases since the authors were able to discuss at the end
of their work that the model they developed can be used with different types of treatment
for different types of cancer. The study is interesting and highly significant in contemporary
time because the effects of chemotherapy on cancer cells is one of the most important issues
that should be focused in the field of medicine since cases of cancer are rising and inevitable.
In general, the authors were moderately effective on achieving and discussing their purpose
of the study because they used proper ways and logical methods to obtain their result.
In conclusion, the purpose of the study about the Mathematical Modelling and
Prediction of the Effect of Chemotherapy on Cancer Cells is to predict the effects of
chemotherapy on cancer cells using the Fractional Diffusion equation model. By the authors
proper and logical methods, they have clearly explained how their developed model can be
used for the predictability of chemotherapy on cancer treatment. I highly recommend the
study to be read by physicians for the development of cancer drugs in the future, and for
those who are interested in the concept of fractional diffusion equation.

Reference:
Namazi, H., Kulish, V. V, & Wong, A. (2015). Mathematical Modelling and Prediction of the Effect of
Chemotherapy on Cancer Cells. Nature Publishing Group, 18. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13583