title: A model of immune regulation as a consequence of randomized lymphocyte division and death times.
abstract: The magnitude of an adaptive immune response is controlled by the interplay of lymphocyte quiescence, proliferation, and apoptosis. How lymphocytes integrate receptor-mediated signals influencing these cell fates is a fundamental question for understanding this complex system. We examined how lymphocytes interleave times to divide and die to develop a mathematical model of lymphocyte growth regulation. This model provides a powerful method for fitting and analyzing fluorescent division tracking data and reveals how summing receptor-mediated kinetic changes can modify the immune response progressively from rapid tolerance induction to strong immunity. An important consequence of our results is that intrinsic variability in otherwise identical cells, usually dismissed as noise, may have evolved to be an essential feature of immune regulation.
authors.affiliation: Immunology Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, 1G Royal Parade, Parkville, Victoria 3050, Australia.
authors.forename: E D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Dowling
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van Gend
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Hodgkin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016923:Cell Death; D002455:Cell Division; D002470:Cell Survival; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008954:Models, Biological; D013997:Time Factors