Figure 6.

The most effective immunotherapy protocols rely on the simultaneous infusion of P-agents and M-agents. (a) Time-average of the global population density of T cells for increasing total doses of therapeutic agents κ (in units of 10³ pg/μl). (b) Time-average of the global population density of target cells for increasing total doses of therapeutic agents κ (in units of 10³ pg/μl). (a, b) Different colours correspond to different therapeutic protocols that rely on the constant infusion of E-agents, P-agents and M-agents separately and in combination (i.e. different values of κ_E, κ_P and κ_M). These results refer to some values of the maximum affinity γ and the average affinity range of T-cell receptors θ that correspond to chronic infection. The same qualitative dynamics can be observed for values of γ and θ corresponding to early clearance and early escape. (c) Illustration of the protocols in use during the in silico experiments of (a, b). Colours correspond to the plots shown in (a, b). All therapeutic protocols under consideration lead to an increase in the time-average of the total number of T cells and a reduction in the time-average of the total number of target cells. However, when the infusion rates of therapeutic agents are sufficiently high, the protocols relying on the simultaneous infusion of P-agents and M-agents lead to a larger population of T cells and to a significantly smaller population of target cells.