Target Cell Limited and Immune Control Models of HIV Infection: A Comparison

✍ Scribed by R.J. De Boer; A.S. Perelson

• Book ID: 102613592
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 251 KB
• Volume: 190
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5193
• DOI: 10.1006/jtbi.1997.0548

✦ Synopsis

We develop various mathematical models of the clinical latency stage of HIV-1 infection assuming that HIV-1 infection is limited either by the availability of cells that HIV can infect or by a specific anti-HIV cellular immune response. The former models we call "target-cell-limited". Comparing the models by phase plane analysis we find that they all belong to the class of predator-prey models. In the target-cell limited models the virus is a predator feeding upon target cell prey, while in the immune-control models the virus is a prey that is controlled by an immune response predator. Because both classes of models are of predator-prey type they behave similarly in most circumstances. We find that both types of model can account for the generic picture of disease progression in which the CD4 T cell count slowly decreases and the viral load slowly increases. Additionally, we find that both types of models can adequately describe the clinically observed changes in the plasma HIV-1 RNA loads in response to retroviral therapies.