Immunology is largely a science of observation and experimentation, and these approaches have lead to great increases in our knowledge of the genes, molecules and cells of the immune system. This book is an up-to-date discussion of the current state of modelling and theoretical work in immunology, of the impact of theory on experiment, and of future directions for theoretical research. Among the topics discussed are the function and evolution of the immune system, computer modelling of the humoral immune response and of idiotypic networks and idiotypic mimicry, T-cell memory, cryptic peptides, new views and models of AIDS and autoimmunity, and the shaping of the immune repertoire by early presented antigens and self immunoglobulin.

Inhalt

I. General Perspectives.- 1. Computer modeling of the immune system: Who are the "fruitori"?.- 2. Is the function of the immune system only to protect?.- 3. The immune system in an evolutionary perspective.- 4. A simulation of the humoral immune system.- 5. Probability of self-nonself discrimination.- 6. Contextual discrimination of antigens by the immune system: Towards a unifying hypothesis.- II. T-Cell Models.- 7. Theoretical insight into antigen-induced T-cell unresponsiveness.- 8. Interaction of interleukin-2 with its cell surface receptors: Interpretation of equilibrium binding experiments via Scatchard plots.- 9. T memory cells in a model of T-cell memory.- 10. A "minimal" basic T-cell model.- 11. Mathematical modeling of Th1-Th2 dynamics.- 12. Complex outcomes in mouse Leishmaniasis: A model for the dynamics of the Th1 response.- III. Networks and Attractors.- 13. Generic modeling of the immune network.- 14. Growth and recruitment in the immune network.- 15. Memory B-cells stabilize cycles in a repressive network.- IV. From Molecular to Cellular Immunology.- 16. Implications of cooperativity and dimensional complexity for immunological recognition.- 17. Shannon information as a measure of amino acid diversity.- 18. Experimental strategies, antigenicity and interpretation of intermolecular interactions.- 19. Receptor-ligand interactions and diffusion effects.- V. Theories and Applications to Clinical Immunology.- 20. Mathematical modeling of the immune response during acute viral infections.- 21. Mimicking the strategy of the immune system: Insight gained from mathematics.- 22. Rash theory.- 23. On second symmetry and AIDS.- 24. Superantigens, alloreactivity, immunological tolerance and AIDS: A unified hypothesis.- 25. Paradoxical effects of suppressor T-cells in adjuvant arthritis: Neural network analysis.- 26. Idiotypic regulation in experimental autoimmune thyroiditis (EAT).- VI. Repertoire Selection.- 27. The secrets of crypticity and its relationship to medical problems: Autoimmune disease, transplantation and cancer.- 28. Role of cryptic self germline encoded Ig epitopes in the selection of the T-cell repertoire.- 29. T-cell repertoire in autoreactive immunoglobulin-transgenic mice.- 30. Experimental and theoretical investigations on idiotypic mimicry.