Optimal Control Problem with Mixed Control and State Constraints for Cancer Chemotherapy and Treatment Optimization

Abstract

The success of chemotherapy depends on the effectiveness of the drug delivery strategy and its ability to destroy cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissues. The main objective of this work is to minimize the density of invasive tumour cells by controlling the chemotherapeutic agents. For this, we address an optimal control problem with mixed control and state constraints. The concentration of chemotherapeutic drugs is represented as a control variable. We use a nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation to describe the effect of drugs on the progression of invasive tumours. We start with the mathematical analysis of this initial boundary value problem. Then, we formulate the optimal control problem, explain the role of different constraints, and derive first-order necessary conditions of optimality. Finally, in order to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed strategy, numerical simulations in the case of the eradication of malignant lung tumours, are presented and analysed.