Robust and Accurate Discrimination of Self/Non-Self Antigen Presentations by Regulatory T Cell Suppression.
The immune response by T cells usually discriminates self and non-self antigens, even though the negative selection of self-reactive T cells is imperfect and a certain fraction of T cells can respond to self-antigens. In this study, we construct a simple mathematical model of T cell populations to analyze how such self/non-self discrimination is possible. The results demonstrate that the control of the immune response by regulatory T cells enables a robust and accurate discrimination of self and non-self antigens, even when there is a significant overlap between the affinity distribution of T cells to self and non-self antigens. Here, the number of regulatory T cells in the system acts as a global variable controlling the T cell population dynamics. The present study provides a basis for the development of a quantitative theory for self and non-self discrimination in the immune system and a possible strategy for its experimental verification.
Quantitative Biology Center, RIKEN, 6-2-3 Furuedai, Suita, Osaka 565-0874, Japan.|Department of Physics, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Chikara
C
Furusawa
Immunology Frontier Research Center (WPI-IFReC), Osaka University, 6-2-3 Furuedai, Suita, Osaka 565-0874, Japan.
Tomoyuki
T
Yamaguchi
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