Implementation of a computational model of the innate immune system

Abstract

In the last few years there has been an increasing interest in mathematical and computational modelling of the human immune system (HIS). Computational models of the HIS dynamics may contribute to a better understanding of the complex phenomena associate to the immune system, and support the development of new drugs and therapies for different diseases. However, the modelling of the HIS is an extremely hard task that demands huge amount of work to be performed by multidisciplinary teams. In this scenario, the objective of this work is to model the dynamics of some cells and molecules of the HIS during an immune response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a section of the tissue. The LPS constitutes the cellular wall of Gram-negative bacteria, and it is a highly immunogenic molecule, which means that it has a remarkable capacity to elicit strong immune responses. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.