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Modeling the Effect of Memory in the Adaptive Immune Response

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Abstract

It is well understood that there are key differences between a primary immune response and subsequent responses. Specifically, memory T cells that remain after a primary response drive the clearance of antigen in later encounters. While the existence of memory T cells is widely accepted, the specific mechanisms that govern their function are generally debated. In this paper, we develop a mathematical model of the immune response. This model follows the creation, activation, and regulation of memory T cells, which allows us to explore the differences between the primary and secondary immune responses. Through the incorporation of memory T cells, we demonstrate how the immune system can mount a faster and more effective secondary response. This mathematical model provides a quantitative framework for studying chronic infections and auto-immune diseases.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Grégoire Altan-Bonnet for his suggestions. The work of DL was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number DMS-1713109 and by the Jayne Koskinas Ted Giovanis Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Asia Wyatt

  2. Department of Mathematics and Center for Scientific Computation and Mathematical Modeling (CSCAMM), University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Doron Levy

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  1. Asia Wyatt
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  2. Doron Levy
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Correspondence to Doron Levy.

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Wyatt, A., Levy, D. Modeling the Effect of Memory in the Adaptive Immune Response. Bull Math Biol 82, 124 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-020-00798-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-020-00798-9

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