Activation of Immune Response in Disease Dynamics via Controlled Drug Scheduling

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), is a dynamic process that can be modeled via differential equations. The primary goal of this paper is to introduce a control philosophy to boost the response of the immune system by means of drug scheduling. The control purpose is to steer the system to an equilibrium condition known as long-term nonprogressor, which corresponds to an infected patient that does not develop the symptoms of AIDS. The feasibility of the control methodology is illustrated via simulations on two HIV dynamic models and on a general disease model.