An age structured model (Euler-Lotka equation) accurately predicts population growth rates of both HCT116 and U2OS cells before cisplatin treatment.

Shown here are deviations (in %) of growth rates predicted by either the Euler-Lotka equation or the inverse of the mean IMT, from the experimentally measured growth rate (obtained via linear regression of the cell-population versus time curve in Fig 2a and 2d). The growth rate prediction by the Euler-Lotka equation for HCT116 cells is within ∼11% of the error expected from age-structured population simulations with the inferred starting age-distributions. For the U2OS cells, the predictions are off by about ∼ 20%.