Closed-loop control of tumor growth by means of anti-angiogenic administration

A tumor growth model accounting for angiogenic stimulation and inhibition is here considered, and a closed-loop control law is presented with the aim of tumor volume reduction by means of anti-angiogenic administration. To this end the output-feedback linearization theory is exploited, with the feedback designed on the basis of a state observer for nonlinear systems. The control scheme allows to set independently the control and the observer parameters thanks to the special structural properties of the tumor growth model that guarantee the separability of estimation and feedback control algorithms. Preliminary results seem extremely promising, showing a noticeable level of robustness against a wide range of the initial state estimate.