dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaQuantifying the relevance of different mediators in the human immune cell network
| Authors | Paolo Tieri, Silvana Valensin, Vito Latora, Gastone C. Castellani, Massimo Marchiori, Daniel Remondini, Claudio Franceschi |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | q-bio/0409020 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0409020 |
| Journal | Bioinformatics. 2005 Apr 15;21(8):1639-43. Epub 2004 Dec 21. |
Abstract
Immune cells coordinate their efforts for the correct and efficient functioning of the immune system (IS). Each cell type plays a distinct role and communicates with other cell types through mediators such as cytokines, chemokines and hormones, among others, that are crucial for the functioning of the IS and its fine tuning. Nevertheless, a quantitative analysis of the topological properties of an immunological network involving this complex interchange of mediators among immune cells is still lacking. Here we present a method for quantifying the relevance of different mediators in the immune network, which exploits a definition of centrality based on the concept of efficient communication. The analysis, applied to the human immune system, indicates that its mediators significantly differ in their network relevance. We found that cytokines involved in innate immunity and inflammation and some hormones rank highest in the network, revealing that the most prominent mediators of the IS are molecules involved in these ancestral types of defence mechanisms highly integrated with the adaptive immune response, and at the interplay among the nervous, the endocrine and the immune systems.
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"abstract": "Immune cells coordinate their efforts for the correct and efficient\nfunctioning of the immune system (IS). Each cell type plays a distinct role and\ncommunicates with other cell types through mediators such as cytokines,\nchemokines and hormones, among others, that are crucial for the functioning of\nthe IS and its fine tuning. Nevertheless, a quantitative analysis of the\ntopological properties of an immunological network involving this complex\ninterchange of mediators among immune cells is still lacking. Here we present a\nmethod for quantifying the relevance of different mediators in the immune\nnetwork, which exploits a definition of centrality based on the concept of\nefficient communication. The analysis, applied to the human immune system,\nindicates that its mediators significantly differ in their network relevance.\nWe found that cytokines involved in innate immunity and inflammation and some\nhormones rank highest in the network, revealing that the most prominent\nmediators of the IS are molecules involved in these ancestral types of defence\nmechanisms highly integrated with the adaptive immune response, and at the\ninterplay among the nervous, the endocrine and the immune systems.",
"arxiv_id": "q-bio/0409020",
"authors": [
"Paolo Tieri",
"Silvana Valensin",
"Vito Latora",
"Gastone C. Castellani",
"Massimo Marchiori",
"Daniel Remondini",
"Claudio Franceschi"
],
"categories": [
"q-bio.MN"
],
"journal_ref": "Bioinformatics. 2005 Apr 15;21(8):1639-43. Epub 2004 Dec 21.",
"title": "Quantifying the relevance of different mediators in the human immune cell network",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0409020"
},
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