| Description |
A fundamental challenge for the immune system is the distinction between self and nonself, or infected and uninfected. Autoimmune disease arises when the immune response mounts an immune response against the hosts tissues. Via a mathematical model, we show that the immune system can distinguish self from nonself via the interaction of T-cells and and dendritic cells (DCs) and explain how autoimmunity is avoided in most people most of the time. The NOD mouse develops Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease, spontaneously with an incidence of about 80% in females. The progression of Type 1 diabetes may be either accelerated or delayed by viral infection. We first create a mathematical model to understand the factors that affect progression in uninfected mice and how it may be interrupted via certain treatments. We categorize which types of viral infection should accelerate Type 1 diabetes or delay. We find that the timing of infection is important, as well as the cell type infected. |
