253

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Issue 253: Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) might be the ultimate sidekick to cancer cells in the tumor environment. When tumors grow, and crucially when they metastasize, they recruit immunosuppressive MDSCs that shield the tumor immune attack. We developed a stochastic delay differential equation model of the tumor-immune-MDSC dynamics occurring at a site of new metastasis. The image shows samples from posterior distributions when we fit the model to in vivo tumor data via Bayesian parameter inference. The samples are colored by tumor outcome: red/yellow for growth (bottom) and green/blue for decline (top). Our results offer a path towards better outcomes in which immunosuppression can be reduced, and metastatic tumors can be targeted and shrunk.