HIV infection and CD\(4^+\) T cell dynamics (Q864079)

The authors study the following mathematical model describing the interaction of HIV infection and CD\(4^+\) T cells within an infected individual \[ \begin{aligned} \dot T&=s-\alpha T+rT\left(1-\frac{T+T^*}{T_{\max}}\right)-kVT,\\ \dot T^*&=kVT-\beta T^*+rT^*\left(1-\frac{T+T^*}{T_{\max}}\right),\tag{1}\\ \dot V&=N\beta T^*-\gamma V, \end{aligned} \] where \(T\) and \(T^*\) are the concentrations of the uninfected T cells and the infected T cells at time \(t\), respectively; and \(V\) represents the concentration of the free virus particles at time \(t\). Let \(N\) be the number of HIV viruses produced by actively infected T cells. After identifying a critical number \(N_{\text{crit}}\), it is shown that system (1) has a unique uninfected steady state \(P_0\) in the feasible region if \(N\leq N_{\text{crit}}\). If \(N>N_{\text{crit}}\), system (1) admits two steady states in the feasible region: \(P_0\) and a unique infected steady state \(P^*\). It is proved that if \(P_0\) is the only steady state, then it is globally asymptotically stable. Sufficient conditions are derived for the local stability of the steady state \(P^*\) and a global stability result is also derived using a global stability criterion developed by \textit{M. Y. Li} and \textit{J. S. Muldowney} [SIAM J. Math. Anal. 27, No. 4, 1070--1083 (1996; Zbl 0873.34041)].