A DELAY-DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION MODEL OF HIV RELATED CANCER IMMUNE SYSTEM DYNAMICS

In the human body, the appearance of tumor cells usually turns on the defensive immune mechanisms. It is therefore of great importance to understand links between HIV related immunosuppression and cancer prognosis. In the paper we present a simple model of HIV related cancer immune system interactions in vivo which takes into account a delay describing the time needed by CD4(+) T lymphocyte to regenerate after eliminating a cancer cell. The model assumes also the linear response of immune system to tumor presence. We perform a mathematical analysis of the steady states stability and discuss the biological meanings of these steady states. Numerical simulations are also presented to illustrate the predictions of the model.