Takumi K, De Boer R J
Department of Theoretical Biology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
J Theor Biol. 1996 Nov 7;183(1):55-66. doi: 10.1006/jtbi.1996.0201.
We study repertoire selection in a network of natural antibodies that is maintained by stimulatory idiotypic interactions. The natural antibody repertoire develops in an environment of self epitopes to which the self-reactive B cell clones are completely tolerant. For the modeling formalism, we extend the shape space framework so that each antibody is represented by several randomly chosen shapes. B cell clones are generated stochastically and are removed whenever their density falls below an extinction threshold. The idiotypic interactions are governed by a log bell-shaped interaction function. The natural antibody repertoire in the model is formed by percolation: the network is autonomously activated following a point stimulation. Our main conclusion is that the natural antibody repertoire organizes itself in such a way that most self epitopes are included in the repertoire. We find an over-representation of antibody determinants that are similar to self epitopes. We speculate that the network forms a "smoke screen" covering the somatic self.
我们研究了由刺激性独特型相互作用维持的天然抗体网络中的 repertoire 选择。天然抗体 repertoire 在自身表位的环境中发展,自身反应性 B 细胞克隆对其完全耐受。对于建模形式,我们扩展了形状空间框架,以便每个抗体由几个随机选择的形状表示。B 细胞克隆随机产生,当其密度低于灭绝阈值时被去除。独特型相互作用由对数钟形相互作用函数控制。模型中的天然抗体 repertoire 通过渗滤形成:网络在点刺激后自主激活。我们的主要结论是,天然抗体 repertoire 以这样一种方式自我组织,即大多数自身表位被纳入 repertoire。我们发现与自身表位相似的抗体决定簇存在过度表达。我们推测该网络形成了一个覆盖体细胞自身的“烟幕”。