dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaA graph model for the evolution of specificity in humoral immunity
| Authors | L. E. Flores, E. J. Aguilar, V. C. Barbosa, L. A. V. de Carvalho |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0310030 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0310030 |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.04.005 |
| Journal | Journal of Theoretical Biology 229 (2004), 311-325 |
Abstract
The immune system protects the body against health-threatening entities, known as antigens, through very complex interactions involving the antigens and the system's own entities. One remarkable feature resulting from such interactions is the immune system's ability to improve its capability to fight antigens commonly found in the individual's environment. This adaptation process is called the evolution of specificity. In this paper, we introduce a new mathematical model for the evolution of specificity in humoral immunity, based on Jerne's functional, or idiotypic, network. The evolution of specificity is modeled as the dynamic updating of connection weights in a graph whose nodes are related to the network's idiotypes. At the core of this weight-updating mechanism are the increase in specificity caused by clonal selection and the decrease in specificity due to the insertion of uncorrelated idiotypes by the bone marrow. As we demonstrate through numerous computer experiments, for appropriate choices of parameters the new model correctly reproduces, in qualitative terms, several immune functions.
{
"annotation_id": "10c22ab7-1851-4a29-a125-36408cc62ea5",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:28.773000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:28.773000Z",
"file_hash": "4152a8fe76ce9aee11a249e91e99821efea920ac7a2b76e1a69f0cdcfb5c8262",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "The immune system protects the body against health-threatening entities,\nknown as antigens, through very complex interactions involving the antigens and\nthe system\u0027s own entities. One remarkable feature resulting from such\ninteractions is the immune system\u0027s ability to improve its capability to fight\nantigens commonly found in the individual\u0027s environment. This adaptation\nprocess is called the evolution of specificity. In this paper, we introduce a\nnew mathematical model for the evolution of specificity in humoral immunity,\nbased on Jerne\u0027s functional, or idiotypic, network. The evolution of\nspecificity is modeled as the dynamic updating of connection weights in a graph\nwhose nodes are related to the network\u0027s idiotypes. At the core of this\nweight-updating mechanism are the increase in specificity caused by clonal\nselection and the decrease in specificity due to the insertion of uncorrelated\nidiotypes by the bone marrow. As we demonstrate through numerous computer\nexperiments, for appropriate choices of parameters the new model correctly\nreproduces, in qualitative terms, several immune functions.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0310030",
"authors": [
"L. E. Flores",
"E. J. Aguilar",
"V. C. Barbosa",
"L. A. V. de Carvalho"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.CB"
],
"doi": "10.1016/j.jtbi.2004.04.005",
"journal_ref": "Journal of Theoretical Biology 229 (2004), 311-325",
"title": "A graph model for the evolution of specificity in humoral immunity",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0310030"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "d1c183c6-c921-4bf3-a942-da624117a52d",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}