A mathematical model of the cell cycle and its control
Abstract
We consider mathematical models for the cell cycle, i.e. the sequence of events that leads to mitosis, at the level of a population of cells. These are structured population Partial Differential Equations that describe the evolution of the population along each phase of the cycle and the transition to the next phase. These models allow several types of controls such as therapeutic control in case of cancer therapy (some chemotherapies are known to act on specific phases of the cycle or on the transitions between phases) or circadian control by the central nervous system (in the suprachiasmatic nuclei). We study the long time behaviour of this system of PDEs using an entropy method and exhibit, by numerical simulations, the action of the circadian control.