A Mathematical Model for Anti-HBV Infection Treatment with Lamivudine and Curative Effect Prediction

Based on the clinical data of the lamivudine for HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B patients and the HBV infection dynamic model proposed by Nowak et al., this paper sets up a mathematical model consisting of two differential equation systems that enable us to describe and understand the dynamics of host cells, viruses and the immune system. Our model provides a possible interpretation for the curative effect of the therapy to the chronic HBV infection patients. In particularly, that can account for the turnover of the mean plasma virus after stopping the therapy. Numerical simulations show that if the treatment is stopped by 10 years´s therapy, the HBV DNA load will still return. Only after all infected cells have been replaced by uninfected ones can the treatment benefit be kept; however it needs to spend over 20 years.