Mathematical analysis of a SIPC age-structured model of cervical cancer

Abstract

<abstract><p><italic>Human Papillomavirus</italic> (HPV), which is the main causal factor of cervical cancer, infects normal cervical cells on the specific cell's age interval, i.e., between the $ G_1 $ to $ S $ phase of cell cycle. Hence, the spread of the viruses in cervical tissue not only depends on the time, but also the cell age. By this fact, we introduce a new model that shows the spread of HPV infections on the cervical tissue by considering the age of cells and the time. The model is a four dimensional system of the first order partial differential equations with time and age independent variables, where the cells population is divided into four sub-populations, i.e., susceptible cells, infected cells by HPV, precancerous cells, and cancer cells. There are two types of the steady state solution of the system, i.e., disease-free and cancerous steady state solutions, where the stability is determined by using Fatou's lemma and solving some integral equations. In this case, we use a non-standard method to calculate the basic reproduction number of the system. Lastly, we use numerical simulations to show the dynamics of the age-structured system.</p></abstract>