# The role of dose-density in combination cancer chemotherapy

## TL;DR

This paper uses a mathematical model to evaluate dose-dense chemotherapy protocols, finding that low-dose maintenance between cycles may be more effective than simply shortening treatment intervals.

## Contribution

It introduces a multicompartment model to compare dose-dense protocols and suggests a novel strategy of low-dose maintenance to prevent tumor relapse.

## Key findings

- Low-dose maintenance can arrest tumor relapse.
- Shortening intervals alone may not be optimal.
- Model-based evidence supports alternative scheduling strategies.

## Abstract

A multicompartment mathematical model is presented with the goal of studying the role of dose-dense protocols in the context of combination cancer chemotherapy. Dose-dense protocols aim at reducing the period between courses of chemotherapy from three to two weeks or less, in order to avoid the regrowth of the tumor during the meantime and achieve maximum cell kill at the end of the treatment. Inspired by clinical trials, we carry out a randomized computational study to systematically compare a variety of protocols using two drugs of different specificity. Our results suggest that cycle specific drugs can be administered at low doses between courses of treatment to arrest the relapse of the tumor. This might be a better strategy than reducing the period between cycles.