Mathematical models of HIV and the immune system.

I describe how mathematical models have been used to elucidate the principles which govern HIV and immune system dynamics in relation to antiviral drug therapy. The review starts by introducing a basic model of virus infection and demonstrates how it was used to study HIV dynamics and to measure crucial parameters which lead to a new understanding of the disease process. Since this analysis indicates that eradication of the virus is not feasible during the lifetime of the patient, I continue to discuss mathematical models with the aim to explore how drug therapy can be used to induce long-term immunological control of the infection.