Combination antiviral drug therapy improves the survival rates of patients chronically infected with hepatitis B virus by controlling viral replication and enhancing immune responses. Some of these drugs have side effects that make them unsuitable for long-term administration. To address the trade-off between the positive and negative effects of the combination therapy, we investigated an optimal control problem for a delay differential equation model of immune responses to hepatitis virus B infection. Our optimal control problem investigates the interplay between virological and immunomodulatory effects of therapy, the control of viremia and the administration of the minimal dosage over a short period of time. Our numerical results show that the high drug levels that induce immune modulation rather than suppression of virological factors are essential for the clearance of hepatitis B virus.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etsu-works-16574 |
| Date | 03 August 2016 |
| Creators | Forde, Jonathan E., Ciupe, Stanca M., Cintron-Arias, Ariel, Lenhart, Suzanne |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | ETSU Faculty Works |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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