A study on the dynamics of a breast cancer model with discrete-time delay

Abstract

This study aims to discuss the impact of discrete-time delay on the anti-tumor immune response against tumor growth, excess levels of estrogen, and the source rate of immune cells in a breast cancer model. The non-negativity and boundedness of the solutions of the model are discussed. The existence of equilibria and their stability are examined. It is found that if the estrogen level is normal and the source rate of immune cells is low, the stability of the model around the co-existing equilibrium switches to instability via a Hopf bifurcation as the time delay increases. To validate the theoretical findings, a few numerical examples have been presented. The main result of this study is that the growth of tumors can be controlled if the immune system quickly generates an anti-tumor immune response. However, if the immune system takes a longer time to generate anti-tumor immune responses, the tumor growth cannot be controlled, and the system becomes unstable, which may result in the further spread of the disease.