This volume collects the contributions presented at the "Working Conference on System Theory in Immunology", held in Rome, May 1978. The aim of the Conference was to bring together immunologists on one side and experts in system theory and applied mathematics on the other, in order to identify problems of common interest and to establish a network of joint effort toward their solution. The methodologies of system theory for processing experimental data and for describing dynamical phenomena could indeed contribute significantly to the under standing of basic immunological facts. Conversely, the complexity of experimental results and of interpretative models should stimulate mathematicians to formulate new problems and to design appropriate procedures of analysis. The multitude of scientific publications in theoretical biology, appeared in recent years, confirms this trend and calls for extensive interaction between mat- matics and immunology. The material of this volume is divided into five sections, along the scheme of the Conference program.

Inhalt
I. Antigenic Stimulation.- Mechanism of B Lymphocyte Activation.- Clonal Dominance: Presentation of Antigenic Subsites is the Determining Factor.- Hierarchic Immunogenicity of Protein Determinants.- Control of B Lymphocyte Activation through Reversible Binding of Multivalent Antigen: a Simple Model.- II. Cell Interactions.- Some Cellular Interactions Involved in the Primary Immune Response.- Some Models for the Interaction between Cells of the Immune Systems.- Stimulation of Memory Cells and Abrogation of Suppression with a Mobile Antigen laden Cell.- Involvement of the Fc Receptor in Immune Regulation: a Hypothesis.- III. Evaluation and Evolution of Antibody Production.- Problems in the Evaluation of Antibody Affinity Distribution during the Immune Response.- Biological Variations of IgM Antibody Affinity.- Speculations on some Fundamental Aspects of the Regulation of the Quantity and Affinity of Antibody Produced during an Immune Response.- IV. Mathematical Modeling in Immunology.- Deterministic and Stochastic Bounded Rate Models in Immunology.- Some Basic Properties of Stochastic Population Models.- Systems Compartmentation in Immunological Modeling.- A Mathematical Model of the Two Signal Theory for T-B Cells Cooperation.- V. The Network Approach.- Idiotypic Regulation and H2 Restriction.- Immunoglobulin Gene Suppression and Expression.- Complexity and Regulation of the Immune System: the Network Approach.- The Stability of the Immune Network.- A Mathematical Model of the Stable States of a Network Theory of Self-Regulation.- Approaches for Data Reduction in Biological Networks.