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T cell anergy as a strategy to reduce the risk of autoimmunity
- Source :
-
Journal of Theoretical Biology . May2011, Vol. 277 Issue 1, p74-82. 9p. - Publication Year :
- 2011
-
Abstract
- Abstract: Some self-reactive immature T cells escape negative selection in the thymus and may cause autoimmune diseases later. In the periphery, if T cells are stimulated insufficiently by peptide-major histocompatibility complex, they become inactive and their production of cytokines changes, a phenomenon called “T cell anergy”. In this paper, we explore the hypothesis that T cell anergy may function to reduce the risk of autoimmunity. The underlying logic is as follows: Since those self-reactive T cells that receive strong stimuli from self-antigens are eliminated in the thymus, T cells that receive strong stimuli in the periphery are likely to be non-self-reactive. As a consequence, when a T cell receives a weak stimulus, the likelihood that the cell is self-reactive is higher than in the case that it receives a strong stimulus. Therefore, inactivation of the T cell may reduce the danger of autoimmunity. We consider the formalism in which each T cell chooses its response depending on the strength of stimuli in order to reduce the risk of autoimmune diseases while maintaining its ability to attack non-self-antigens effectively. The optimal T cell responses to a weak and a strong stimulus are obtained both when the cells respond in a deterministic manner and when they respond in a probabilistic manner. We conclude that T cell anergy is the optimal response when a T cell meets with antigen-presenting cells many times in its lifetime, and when the product of the autoimmunity risk and the number of self-reactive T cells has an intermediate value. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00225193
- Volume :
- 277
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Theoretical Biology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 59771440
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.02.014