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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Chronic infection with hepatitis C Virus (HCV) affects 130-200 million people worldwide, including nearly 8 million Europeans. In the last 10 years, active research on understanding mechanisms of HCV replication has resulted in the clinical implementation of direct acting antivirals (DAAs), holding the promise that a virtually universal cure might be achieved in the coming years. Viral kinetic modeling aims to characterize the main mechanisms that govern the virologic response to treatment. These models, most often based on ordinary differential equations, have been initially developed in the field of HIV, providing estimates of key parameters, such as the treatment effectiveness in vivo, the half-life of productively infected cells or the daily rate of viral production.
In this talk I will review the mathematical and statistical developments that have been made in the recent years to apply these models to hepatitis C virus. I will show how these models have been used to guide efforts in clinical drug development. I will conclude on the future challenges on HCV viral kinetic modeling.
Host: Alan Perelson