Digital control circuitry for the p53 dynamics in cancer cell and apoptosis

Abstract

Experimental work and theoretical models deduce a "digital" response of the p53 transcription factor when genomic integrity is damaged. The mutual influence of p53 and its antagonist, the Mdm2 oncogene, is closed in feedback. This paper proposes an aerospace architecture for translating the p53/Mdm2/DNA damage network into a digital circuitry in which the optimal control theory is applied for obtaining the requested dynamic evolutions of some considered cell species for repairing a DNA damage. The purpose of this paper is not to improve the analysis of the actual mathematical models but to demonstrate the usefulness of such digital circuitry design to detect and predict the cell species dynamics for shedding light on their inner and mutual mechanisms of interaction. Moreover, the cell fate is newly conceived by the modified pulsing mechanism of p53 and other apoptotic species when the digital optimal control is applied to an apoptosis wiring diagram.