Global properties of a cell mediated immunity in HIV infection model with two classes of target cells and distributed delays

Abstract

In this paper, we study the global properties of a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection model with cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) immune response. The model is a six-dimensional that describes the interaction of the HIV with two classes of target cells, CD4+ T cells and macrophages. The infection rate is given by saturation functional response. Two types of distributed time delays are incorporated into the model to describe the time needed for infection of target cell and virus replication. Using the method of Lyapunov functional, we have established that the global stability of the model is determined by two threshold numbers, the basic infection reproduction number R0 and the immune response activation number [Formula: see text]. We have proven that if R0 ≤ 1, then the uninfected steady state is globally asymptotically stable (GAS), if [Formula: see text], then the infected steady state without CTL immune response is GAS, and if [Formula: see text], then the infected steady state with CTL immune response is GAS.