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Mathematical modelling of HTLV-I infection: a study of viral persistence in vivo
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- Author / Creator
- Lim, Aaron Guanliang
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Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is a persistent human retrovirus characterized by life-long infection and risk of developing HAM/TSP, a progressive neurological and inflammatory disease. Despite extensive studies of HTLV-I, a complete understanding of the viral dynamics has been elusive. Previous mathematical models are unable to fully explain experimental observations. Motivated by a new hypothesis for the mechanism of HTLV-I infection, a three dimensional compartmental model of ordinary differential equations is constructed that focusses on the highly dynamic interactions among populations of healthy, latently infected, and actively infected target cells. Results from mathematical and numerical investigations give rise to relevant biological interpretations. Comparisons of these results with experimental observations allow us to assess the validity of the original hypothesis. Our findings provide valuable insights to the infection and persistence of HTLV-I in vivo and motivate future mathematical and experimental work.
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- Subjects / Keywords
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- HTLV-I
- Monotone dynamical systems
- Viral Tax protein
- Butler-McGehee Lemma
- Immune responses
- Ordinary differential equations
- Poincare-Bendixson Theorem
- Latently infected target cells
- Global stability
- Lozinskii measure
- Mathematical modelling
- Immunology
- CD4+ helper T-cells
- Backward bifurcation
- Compound systems
- Retrovirology
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2010
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.