Maintenance of the latent reservoir by pyroptosis and superinfection in a fractional order HIV transmission model

Abstract

We focus on the importance of pyroptosis and superinfection on the maintenance of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) latent reservoir on infectedpatients. The latent reservoir has been found to be crucial to the persistenceof low levels of viral loads found in HIV-infected patients, after many yearsof successfully suppressive anti-retroviral therapy (ART). This reservoir seemsto act as an archive for strains of HIV no longer dominant in the blood, suchas wild-type virus. When a patient decides to quit therapy there is a rapidturnover and the wild-type virus re-emerges. Thus, it is extremely importantto understand the mechanisms behind the maintenance of this reservoir. Forthat, we propose a fractional order model for the dynamics of HIV, wherepyroptosis and superinfection are considered. The model is simulated for biological meaningful parameters and interesting patterns are found. Our resultsare interpreted for clinical appreciation.