Kinetic model of HIV infection including hematopoietic progenitor cells

Recent experiments indicate that one of the likely reasons of the failure of eradication of HIV is in infection of hematopoietic progenitor cells. Such cells are nurtured in stem-cell niches residing in the bone marrow. Our generic four-variable kinetic model focused on this ingredient of HIV infection describes (i) a rapid increase of the population of infected CD4+ T cells at the beginning of verimia, (ii) a sharp decline of this population due to immunological control, (iii) a long period of latency followed by a collapse of the immune system, and (iv) predicts that in the case of the therapy fully eradicating infected CD4+ T cells the infection starts rapidly again after the therapy.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slideHighlights► One of the likely reasons of the failure of eradication of HIV is in infection of hematopoietic progenitor cells. ► Such cells are nurtured in stem-cell niches residing in the bone marrow. ► Our generic four-variable kinetic model is focused on this ingredient of HIV infection. ► It describes the beginning of verimia and a long period of latency followed by a collapse of the immune system.