title: Optimal HIV treatment by maximising immune response.
abstract: We present an optimal control model of drug treatment of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Our model is based upon ordinary differential equations that describe the interaction between HIV and the specific immune response as measured by levels of natural killer cells. We establish stability results for the model. We approach the treatment problem by posing it as an optimal control problem in which we maximise the benefit based on levels of healthy CD4+ T cells and immune response cells, less the systemic cost of chemotherapy. We completely characterise the optimal control and compute a numerical solution of the optimality system via analytic continuation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Clarke College, 1550 Clarke Drive, Dubuque, IA 52001, USA. Rebecca.Culshaw@clarke.edu
authors.forename: Rebecca V
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Culshaw
authors.forename: Shigui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruan
authors.forename: Raymond J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Spiteri
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D018448:Models, Immunological; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D019380:Anti-HIV Agents