Related papers: Self-tolerance and autoimmunity in a minimal model…
We consider the problem of self tolerance in the frame of a minimalistic model of the idiotypic network. A node of this network represents a population of B lymphocytes of the same idiotype which is encoded by a bit string. The links of the…
We consider a minimalistic dynamic model of the idiotypic network of B-lymphocytes. A network node represents a population of B-lymphocytes of the same specificity (idiotype), which is encoded by a bitstring. The links of the network…
We investigate a model where idiotypes (characterizing B-lymphocytes and antibodies of an immune system) and anti-idiotypes are represented by complementary bitstrings of a given length d allowing for a number of mismatches (matching…
We develop a modular mean field theory for a minimalistic model of the idiotypic network. The model comprises the random influx of new idiotypes and a deterministic selection. It describes the evolution of the idiotypic network towards…
We introduce a class of weighted graphs whose properties are meant to mimic the topological features of idiotypic networks, namely the interaction networks involving the B-core of the immune system. Each node is endowed with a bit-string…
In this work we use belief-propagation techniques to study the equilibrium behaviour of a minimal model for the immune system comprising interacting T and B clones. We investigate the effect of the so-called idiotypic interactions among…
We present a model for the evolution of networks of occupied sites on undirected regular graphs. At every iteration step in a parallel update I randomly chosen empty sites are occupied and occupied sites having degree outside of a given…
In spite of their many facets, the phenomena of autoimmunity and immunodeficiency seem to be related to each other through the subtle links connecting retroviral mutation and action to immune response and adaptation. In a previous work, we…
We consider the mutual interactions, via cytokine exchanges, among helper lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and killer lymphocytes, and we model them as a unique system by means of a tripartite network. Each part includes all the different clones…
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…
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…
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…
The similarity between neural and immune networks has been known for decades, but so far we did not understand the mechanism that allows the immune system, unlike associative neural networks, to recall and execute a large number of…
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…
Jerne's idiotypic network theory postulates that the immune response involves inter-antibody stimulation and suppression as well as matching to antigens. The theory has proved the most popular Artificial Immune System (ais) model for…
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…
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…
Many events in the vertebrate immune system are influenced by some element of chance. The objective of the present work is to describe affinity maturation of B lymphocytes (in which random events are perhaps the most characteristic), and to…
Associative network models featuring multi-tasking properties have been introduced recently and studied in the low load regime, where the number $P$ of simultaneously retrievable patterns scales with the number $N$ of nodes as $P\sim \log…
We are interested in modeling theoretical immunology within a statistical mechanics flavor: focusing on the antigen-independent maturation process of B-cells, in this paper we try to revise the problem of self vs non-self discrimination by…