Circadian rhythm and tumour growth

We address the following question: can one sustain, on the basis of mathematical models, that for cancer cells, the loss of control by circadian rhythm favours a faster growth? This question, which comes from the observation that tumour growth in mice is enhanced by experimental disruption of the circadian rhythm, may be tackled by mathematical modelling of the cell cycle. For this purpose we consider an age-structured population model with control of death (apoptosis) rates and phase transitions, and two eigenvalues: one for periodic control coefficients (via a variant of Floquet theory in infinite dimension) and one for constant coefficients (taken as the time average of the periodic case). We show by a direct proof that, surprisingly enough considering the above-mentioned observation, the periodic eigenvalue is always greater than the steady state eigenvalue when the sole apoptosis rate is concerned. We also show by numerical simulations when transition rates between the phases of the cell cycle are concerned, that, without further hypotheses, no natural hierarchy between the two eigenvalues exists. This at least shows that, if such models are to take account of the above-mentioned observation, control of death rates inside phases is not sufficient, and that transition rates between phases are a key target in proliferation control.