A Modeling Framework For Immune-related Diseases

Abstract

Abstract. About twenty five years ago the first discrete mathematical model of the immune system was proposed. It was very simple and stylized. Later, many other computational models have been proposed each one adding a certain level of sophistication and detail to the description of the system. One of these, the Celada-Seiden model published back in 1992, was already mature at its birth, setting apart from the topic-specific nature of the other models. This one was not just a model but rather a framework with which one could implement his own immunological theories.Here we describe this computational framework, developed to perform simulations of different pathologies that are directly or indirectly connected to the immune system. We briefly describe the system first, then we report on few applications so to give the reader a clear idea of its practical utility in clinical research problems.

Induction of T-cell memory by a dendritic cell vaccine: a computational model

“…Parameter values are shown in Table 1 and have been set at reasonable values based on results coming from the literature, from the observation of the in vivo experiments and from our past experience (Castiglione et al, 2012;Halling-Brown et al, 2010;Pappalardo et al, 2006Pappalardo et al, , 2009aPappalardo et al, , b, 2010Pappalardo et al, , 2011Pappalardo et al, , 2012Pennisi et al, 2008Pennisi et al, , 2009.…”

Review of the systems biology of the immune system using agent‐based models

“…In this paper, we also suggested that ABMs are more suitable for modelling of different infectious diseases. ABMs of diseases help scientists to figure out the mechanisms of the immune system to validate hypotheses and to develop new medicines that are able to restrain certain diseases [39]. As with all simulation methods, ABM approach has certain limitations.…”

“…Temporally, the authors modelled whole HIV infection that lasts for several years, and spatially they simulated individual cells of the lymphatic tissues. The importance of C‐ImmSim and its applicability to different diseases such as infectious diseases, allergies, and atherosclerosis are delineated in [39].…”

“…Temporally, the authors modelled whole HIV infection that lasts for several years, and spatially they simulated individual cells of the lymphatic tissues. The importance of C-ImmSim and its applicability to different diseases such as infectious diseases, allergies, and atherosclerosis are delineated in [39]. There are other immune system simulators that are available: IMMUNOGRID [15,16], Rhapsody [40,41], CYCELLS [19], synthetic immune system (SIS) [42], SIMMUNE [17], and NFSim [43].…”

Optimal vaccination schedule search using genetic algorithm over MPI technology

“…Living organisms are natural complex systems and modeling may play a crucial role since models can also be built with approximate and imperfect knowledge of the phenomenon, and model parameters (initial data, entities, relations between entities) can be adjusted to fit modeling results to experimental measurements [1]. …”