Mathematical modeling of SCD: a literature review

SCD is a family of genetic blood disorders that affects over 20 million people worldwide. SCD complications include pain, anemia, and early death. The hallmark cause of medical visits for people with SCD is pain, initially in the form of acute, severe, vaso-occlusive crises stemming from obstructed blood vessels and a plethora of underlying disordered biological mechanisms. Vaso-occlusive crises are unpredictable and are often associated with acute disability and/or hospitalization. Both vaso-occlusive crises and longer-term, chronic sickle cell pain can contribute to multi-system organ damage and eventually early death. Many of the disordered biological mechanisms of SCD, and how they relate to painful outcomes, are not well understood. Mathematical modeling can be a useful tool to study and analyze such disordered SCD biological phenomena: biodynamics, vaso-occlusion, and responses to SCD drug and gene therapy. In this review, we summarize the variety of mathematical modeling methods used to study SCD and provide specific examples of how mathematical modeling contributes new understandings of SCD.