2010/03/04 by Fridolin Gross, Fridolin Groß, G Metzner +5
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Immunology and Microbiology · Medicine · #Allergic Rhinitis and Sensitization #Cell Behavior (q-bio.CB) #Dermatology and Skin Diseases #FOS: Biological sciences #Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE) #T-cell and B-cell Immunology #q-bio.CB #q-bio.PE
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1003.1053
arxiv created 2010/03/04 · openalex publication_date 2010/03/04 · arxiv updated 2010/03/05 · openalex created_date 2022/10/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Regulatory T cells (Treg) have recently been identified as playing a central\nrole in allergy and during allergen-specific immunotherapy. We have extended\nour previous mathematical model describing the nonlinear dynamics of Th1-Th2\nregulation by including Treg cells and their major cytokines. We hypothesize\nthat immunotherapy mainly acts on the T cell level and that the decisive\nprocess can be regarded as a dynamical phenomenon. The model consists of\nnonlinear differential equations which describe the proliferation and mutual\nsuppression of different T cell subsets. The old version of the model was based\nupon the Th1-Th2 paradigm and is successful in describing the "Th1-Th2 switch"\nwhich was considered the decisive event during specific immunotherapy. In\nrecent years, however, the Th1-Th2 paradigm has been questioned and therefore,\nwe have investigated a modified model in order to account for the influence of\na regulatory T cell type. We examined the extended model by means of numerical\nsimulations and analytical methods. As the modified model is more complex, we\nhad to develop new methods to portray its characteristics. The concept of\nstable manifolds of fixed points of a stroboscobic map turned out to be\nespecially important. We found that when including regulatory T cells, our\nmodel can describe the events in allergen-specific immunotherapy more\naccurately. Our results suggest that the decisive effect of immunotherapy, the\nincreased proliferation of Treg and suppression of Th2 cells, crucially depends\non the administration of high dose injections right before the maintenance\nphase sets in. Empirical protocols could therefore be improved by optimizing\nthis step of therapy.\n