A computer simulation model for Strongyloides infection
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Computational Biology, Mathematical Biology, Parasitology, Infectious Diseases, Public Health
- Keywords
- deterministic, Ordinary Differential Equations, COPASI time course simulation, helminth autoinfection, ivermectin
- Copyright
- © 2016 Levenhagen et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. A computer simulation model for Strongyloides infection. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2399v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.2399v1
Abstract
Despite high success rate in treating human Strongyloides infection with ivermectin, there is no consensus about the treatment of hyperinfection by helminths of the genus Strongyloides in immunocompromised people. Chances of survival of patients suffering from strongyloidiasis hyperinfection near 50%, with the toxicity of ivermectin in nervous system aggravating the puzzle. Creation of computer models capable of faithfully reproduce established knowledge about Strongyloides infection may be useful to understand the dynamics of infection and possible treatment. A computer model was developed in COPASI using ordinary differential equations representing dynamics of helminth life cycle in a hyperinfection. A combination of Boolean variables representing an ’immunosuppressed’ host and ’treated’ with four doses of ivermectin (200 μkg −1 ) raises four scenarios for time course simulations. Humoral and cellular immune responses were modeled using previous experiments whose data were approximated by ordinary functions. Three experiments, associated to strongyloidiasis hyperinfection, were successfully reproduced. A fourth scenario (immunosuppressed ∧ treated) yielded similar results compared to literature: four doses of ivermectin (200 μkg −1 ) were sufficient to restrain an infection, without a need for prolonged treatment. However, the smallest dosage does not suffice. A computational model for Strongyloides infection is available in SBML file format. The computational model here proposed for simulation of a hyperinfection by Strongyloides achieved similar results to previous experiments with hosts. It could allow us an in silico understanding of several aspects of infections caused by parasites of the genus Strongyloides.
Author Comment
Additional file 1 — An SBML file format for Strongyloides infection The SBML file was generated by the COPASI tool but can be managed by any SBML level 2 compliant program. An SBML (Strongyloides.xml) and a native COPASI file (Strongyloides.cps) formats are within this compressed file, both implementing the same model. There is also a library of piecewise defined functions (worm.cpk) to reproduce concentrations of immune system sub-entities.
Supplemental Information
COPASI file (Strongyloides.cps) are within this compressed file implementing the model; a library of piecewise defined functions (worm.cpk) to reproduce concentrations of immune system sub-entities
Additional file 1 — An SBML file format for Strongyloides infection The SBML file was generated by the COPASI tool but can be managed by any SBML level 2 compliant program. An SBML (Strongyloides.xml) and a native COPASI file (Strongyloides.cps) formats are within this compressed file, both implementing the same model. There is also a library of piecewise defined functions (worm.cpk) to reproduce concentrations of immune system sub-entities.