Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women. It is caused by the hu- man papillomavirus (HPV). There are many different types of HPV, some of which are high-risk, highly associated with cancer, and low-risk. While HPV is very common— most sexually active individuals will contract some sexually transmitted HPV infec- tion in their lifetime—most infections are cleared without any complication. However, persistent infections may establish and develop into cancerous lesions. Two vaccines have been developed against the two most high-risk types, and have shown high lev- els of efficacy thus far. However, infections are still occurring and it is not clear why some individuals develop persistent infections while others do not. In this thesis, we develop a model to describe how the infection spreads within the host. We express the basic reproduction number R0, a threshold for the establishment of an infection. We solve for the diseased equilibrium, providing insight about whether an infection will persist or not. We develop a spatial model to examine how spatiality of the infec- tion process affects the establishment or clearance. Lastly, we develop a multi-type HPV model to examine whether competitive HPV types are able to coexist in the host for different levels of competition. Ultimately, this work provides groundwork for within-host modelling of HPV and can provide direction for future research. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection that is known to cause cervical cancer in women along with other genital cancers. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, and thus researchers are looking to reduce the number of cervical cancer cases and the number of HPV infections. In order for HPV to cause cervical cancer, the infection must persist for a long time. Most individuals clear the infection without any complication; however, some individuals develop persistent infections. By using mathematical and computation models, we hope to understand why and how HPV infections spread in the host. We develop a criterion for when the infection may be able to establish in the host, and explore conditions that could lead to clearance. Understanding when and how infections will persist could inform treatment and monitoring of cervical cancer development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/18298 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Hunt, Spencer Doyle |
| Contributors | Dushoff, Jonathan, Mathematics |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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