Modeling the cell-to-cell transmission dynamics of viral infection under the exposure of non-cytolytic cure

To explore the effect of direct cell-to-cell transmission on viral infection dynamics under the exposure of the non-cytolytic cure mechanism, a mathematical model integrating both the virus-to-cell and cell-to-cell transmissions with a non-cytolytic cure rate of infected cells in the presence of humoral immunity has been considered. Parameter variation experimentation suggests that a high cell-to-cell infection rate induces the chronic infection state in the host, whereas a high non-cytolytic cure rate positively contributes to the reduction of the viral load. We observe that a moderate cure rate under the exposure of a weak cell-to-cell transmission can effectively reduce the level of infection. Further, we examine the effect of cell-free transmission on the infection dynamics under the influence of cell-to-cell transmission. To substantiate our hypothesis, we present a case study of five HIV-1 infected patients to depict the primary HIV-1 infection dynamics in a real life scenario through model prediction.