Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer

There is great potential to be explored regarding the use of agent-based modelling and simulation as an alternative paradigm to investigate early-stage cancer interactions with the immune system. It does not suffer from some limitations of ordinary differential equation models, such as the lack of s...

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Main Authors: Figueredo, Grazziela P., Siebers, Peer-Olaf, Owen, Markus R., Reps, Jenna, Aickelin, Uwe
Format: Article
Published: Public Library of Science 2014
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Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3348/
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author Figueredo, Grazziela P.
Siebers, Peer-Olaf
Owen, Markus R.
Reps, Jenna
Aickelin, Uwe
author_facet Figueredo, Grazziela P.
Siebers, Peer-Olaf
Owen, Markus R.
Reps, Jenna
Aickelin, Uwe
author_sort Figueredo, Grazziela P.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description There is great potential to be explored regarding the use of agent-based modelling and simulation as an alternative paradigm to investigate early-stage cancer interactions with the immune system. It does not suffer from some limitations of ordinary differential equation models, such as the lack of stochasticity, representation of individual behaviours rather than aggregates and individual memory. In this paper we investigate the potential contribution of agent-based modelling and simulation when contrasted with stochastic versions of ODE models using early-stage cancer examples. We seek answers to the following questions: (1) Does this new stochastic formulation produce similar results to the agent-based version? (2) Can these methods be used interchangeably? (3) Do agent-based models outcomes reveal any benefit when compared to the Gillespie results? To answer these research questions we investigate three well-established mathematical models describing interactions between tumour cells and immune elements. These case studies were re-conceptualised under an agent-based perspective and also converted to the Gillespie algorithm formulation. Our interest in this work, therefore, is to establish a methodological discussion regarding the usability of different simulation approaches, rather than provide further biological insights into the investigated case studies. Our results show that it is possible to obtain equivalent models that implement the same mechanisms; however, the incapacity of the Gillespie algorithm to retain individual memory of past events affects the similarity of some results. Furthermore, the emergent behaviour of ABMS produces extra patters of behaviour in the system, which was not obtained by the Gillespie algorithm.
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spelling nottingham-33482020-05-04T20:15:41Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3348/ Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer Figueredo, Grazziela P. Siebers, Peer-Olaf Owen, Markus R. Reps, Jenna Aickelin, Uwe There is great potential to be explored regarding the use of agent-based modelling and simulation as an alternative paradigm to investigate early-stage cancer interactions with the immune system. It does not suffer from some limitations of ordinary differential equation models, such as the lack of stochasticity, representation of individual behaviours rather than aggregates and individual memory. In this paper we investigate the potential contribution of agent-based modelling and simulation when contrasted with stochastic versions of ODE models using early-stage cancer examples. We seek answers to the following questions: (1) Does this new stochastic formulation produce similar results to the agent-based version? (2) Can these methods be used interchangeably? (3) Do agent-based models outcomes reveal any benefit when compared to the Gillespie results? To answer these research questions we investigate three well-established mathematical models describing interactions between tumour cells and immune elements. These case studies were re-conceptualised under an agent-based perspective and also converted to the Gillespie algorithm formulation. Our interest in this work, therefore, is to establish a methodological discussion regarding the usability of different simulation approaches, rather than provide further biological insights into the investigated case studies. Our results show that it is possible to obtain equivalent models that implement the same mechanisms; however, the incapacity of the Gillespie algorithm to retain individual memory of past events affects the similarity of some results. Furthermore, the emergent behaviour of ABMS produces extra patters of behaviour in the system, which was not obtained by the Gillespie algorithm. Public Library of Science 2014-01 Article PeerReviewed Figueredo, Grazziela P., Siebers, Peer-Olaf, Owen, Markus R., Reps, Jenna and Aickelin, Uwe (2014) Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer. PLoS ONE, 9 (4). e95150. ISSN 1932-6203 Biomedical Informatics Simulation http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0095150 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095150 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0095150
spellingShingle Biomedical Informatics
Simulation
Figueredo, Grazziela P.
Siebers, Peer-Olaf
Owen, Markus R.
Reps, Jenna
Aickelin, Uwe
Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
title Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
title_full Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
title_fullStr Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
title_full_unstemmed Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
title_short Comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
title_sort comparing stochastic differential equations and agent-based modelling and simulation for early-stage cancer
topic Biomedical Informatics
Simulation
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3348/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3348/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/3348/