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Cisplatin has been the mainstay of chemotherapeutic efforts against several types of cancers for over 30 years. However, there is still much that is unknown regarding its mechanism of action. The several serious side effects of cisplatin therapy and the lack of consensus regarding the ideal dosage regimen necessitate the development of a quantitative model for cisplatin action. A first-level mathematical model is presented for the cytotoxicity of cisplatin which predicts the survival of cancer cells when subjected to a given dose of this antitumor drug. This model comprises of (i) an uptake model that describes the movement of cisplatin molecules from the extracellular medium to the cell nucleus and the formation (and repair) of cisplatin−DNA adducts and (ii) a tolerance model that relates the quantity of cisplatin−DNA adducts formed inside the cell nuclei in a tumor to the fraction of tumor cells that are killed. The …