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Peter Kim University of Utah Wednesday Sept. 3, 2008 3:05pm in LCB 215 "Unraveling immune regulation " Abstract: We develop a mathematical framework for modeling regulatory mechanisms in the adaptive immune system. The model describes dynamics of several components of the immune system, including effector and regulatory T cells, antigen-presenting cells, and cell signaling. The model also incorporates two key microenvironments: the lymph node and the tissue. The model captures three features of the dynamics and regulation of the primary adaptive response: 1) Transition between expansion and contraction phases of the immune response, 2) Self/non-self discrimination, and 3) T cell traffic between the lymph node and tissue during the course of the primary response. All three of these self-regulatory mechanisms are mediated in large part by regulatory T cells. In this talk, we focus primarily on deepening our understanding the first point, namely the timely transition between expansion and contraction phases. In trying to unravel the mechanism behind a normal, healthy T cell response, we draw connections to the behavior of other well-known excitable systems studied in molecular biology and physiology.
Although various computational models exist, the fundamental dynamics
of
immune regulation still remains unexplained, so in closing, we propose
a
few potential approaches to unraveling this mystery.
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