Abstract
We simulate the progression of the HIV-1 infection in untreated host
organisms. The phenotype features of the virus are represented by the
replication rate, the probability of activating the transcription, the
mutation rate and the capacity to stimulate an immune response (the
so-called immunogenicity).
It is very difficult to study in \emph{in-vivo} or \emph{in-vitro} how
these characteristics of the virus influence the evolution of the
disease. Therefore we resorted to simulations based on a computer
model validated in previous studies.
We observe, by means of computer experiments, that the virus
continuously evolves under the selective pressure of an immune
response whose effectiveness downgrades along with the disease
progression. The results of the simulations show that immunogenicity
is the most important factor in determining the rate of disease
progression but, by itself, it is not sufficient to drive the disease
to a conclusion in all cases.
Anno
2005
Autori IAC
Tipo pubblicazione
Altri Autori
Bernaschi M., Castiglione F.
Editore
World Scientific.
Rivista
International journal of modern physics C