February 21, 2000
We numerically study a dynamical system model of an idiotypic immune network with a small number of degrees of freedom. The model was originally introduced by Varela et.al., and describes antibodies interacting in a body in order to prepare for the invasion of external antigens. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the direction of change in the network system when antigens invade it. We investigate three models, original model, a modified model and a modified model with a threshold of concentration over which each antibody can recognize other antibodies. In all these models, both chaotic and periodic states exist. In particular, we find peculiar states organized in the network, the clustering state.
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June 29, 2001
We study a dynamical system model of an idiotypic immune network with a small number of degrees of freedom, mainly focusing on the effect of a threshold above which antibodies can recognise antibodies. The response of the system to invasions by antigens is investigated in the both models with and without the threshold and it turns out that the system changes in a desirable direction for moderate magnitude of perturbation. direction for moderate magnitude of perturbation. Also...
January 30, 2012
Some years ago a cellular automata model was proposed to describe the evolution of the immune repertoire of B cells and antibodies based on Jerne's immune network theory and shape-space formalism. Here we investigate if the networks generated by this model in the different regimes can be classified as complex networks. We have found that in the chaotic regime the network has random characteristics with large, constant values of clustering coefficients, while in the ordered ph...
January 6, 2008
We argue that immune system is an adaptive complex system. It is shown that it has emergent properties. Its network structure is of the small world network type. The network is of the threshold type, which helps in avoiding autoimmunity. It has the property that every antigen (e.g.virus or bacteria) is typically attacked by more than one effector. This stabilizes the equilibrium state. Modelling complex systems is discussed. Cellular automata (CA) type models are successful b...
June 24, 1999
Divergence in antigen response of the immune network is discussed, based on shape-space modelling. The present model extends the shape-space model by introducing the evolution of specificity of idiotypes. When the amount of external antigen increases, stability of the immune network changes and the network responds to the antigen. It is shown that specific and non-specific responses emerge as a function of antigen levels. A specific response is observed with a fixed point att...
May 3, 1993
A Cayley tree model of idiotypic networks that includes both B cell and antibody dynamics is formulated and analyzed. As in models with B cells only, localized states exist in the network with limited numbers of activated clones surrounded by virgin or near-virgin clones. The existence and stability of these localized network states are explored as a function of model parameters. As in previous models that have included antibody, the stability of immune and tolerant localized...
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The aim of this work is to try to bridge over theoretical immunology and disordered statistical mechanics. Our long term hope is to contribute to the development of a quantitative theoretical immunology from which practical applications may stem. In order to make theoretical immunology appealing to the statistical physicist audience we are going to work out a research article which, from one side, may hopefully act as a benchmark for future improvements and developments, from...
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In this paper, after a telegraphic introduction to modern immunology, we present a simple model for the idiotypic network among antibodies and we study its relevance for the maintenance of immunological memory. We also consider the problem of computing the memory capacity of such a model.
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The phenomenon of immunological memory has been known for a long time. But, the underlying mechanism is poorly understood. According to the theory of clonal selection the response to a specific invading antigen (e.g., bacteria) is offered by a specific clone of the cells. Some of the lymphocytes activated during the primary response remain dormant and keep circulating in the immune system for a long time carrying the memory of the encounter and, therefore, these long-lived ce...
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In this paper we review the trajectory of a model proposed by Stauffer and Weisbuch in 1992 to describe the evolution of the immune repertoire and present new results about its dynamical behavior. Ten years later this model, which is based on the ideas of the immune network as proposed by Jerne, has been able to describe a multi-connected network and could be used to reproduce immunization and aging experiments performed with mice. Besides its biological implications, the phy...
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