1. On-Lattice Simulation of T Cell Motility, Chemotaxis, and Trafficking in the Lymph Node Paracortex.
- Author
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Bogle, Gib, Dunbar, P. Rod, and Ploegh, Hidde L.
- Subjects
T cells ,IMMUNE response ,LYMPH nodes ,CELL motility ,CELL proliferation ,CHEMOTAXIS - Abstract
Agent-based simulation is a powerful method for investigating the complex interplay of the processes occurring in a lymph node during an adaptive immune response. We have previously established an agent-based modeling framework for the interactions between T cells and dendritic cells within the paracortex of lymph nodes. This model simulates in three dimensions the "random-walk" T cell motility observed in vivo, so that cells interact in space and time as they process signals and commit to action such as proliferation. On-lattice treatment of cell motility allows large numbers of densely packed cells to be simulated, so that the low frequency of T cells capable of responding to a single antigen can be dealt with realistically. In this paper we build on this model by incorporating new numerical methods to address the crucial processes of T cell ingress and egress, and chemotaxis, within the lymph node. These methods enable simulation of the dramatic expansion and contraction of the T cell population in the lymph node paracortex during an immune response. They also provide a novel probabilistic method to simulate chemotaxis that will be generally useful in simulating other biological processes in which chemotaxis is an important feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2012
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